NZ distributor is pumped to have petrol engines powering its next product pitch.

HAVING been foot hard down into electric, and found the going tough this year with consumer confidence in battery cars severely short-circuiting, Audi New Zealand will likely be relieved its next model here is set to be petrol-fed.

It’s the A5, the new name for what we’ve known for the A4, because the German company has decided that all its odd-numbered product lines will be internal-combustion powered, while all its even-numbered ranges will be the electric vehicles.

Overnight international announcement of the line has been followed up with local confirmation the car is coming, though for how much, what specific guises and when is not yet clear.

But the ‘A’ cars will definitely first avail in petrol, primarily 2.0-litre four-cylinder formats, plus a S5, with a 3.0-litre V6.

Shelving the A4 badge is a big deal, because it has been around for 30 years. But the A5 has also always been a big hit here, so the change around is set to be a safe call.

Also lending confidence is the the car line shown to the world is same-same, if different in description. In previous iterations, A5 has been a sports coupe. A4s have been sedans, cabriolets and wagons. Whether an open A5 is coming is not clear but, as images make clear, the new sedan is A5-ish, in being a fastback. There’s also a wagon; Avant in Ingolstadt-speak.

In comment shared today, Audi NZ boss Greg Leet calls it an exciting chapter and suggests it offers new opportunity. Translation for that is that it’s well-timed.

Audi NZ has very much been electric intensive for the past couple of years and, though that’s an important future-proofing, the battery sector being severely de-powered in the current economic climate has shown in a sobering plummet in sales. While interest in internal combustion choices is also down, it’s nowhere near as bad. Bascially, anything that burns fossil fuel is welcome.

In that regard, Audi NZ is at pains to point out nonetheless that the incoming powerplants are “efficient combustion engines”.

All have a 48-volt mild-hybrid (MHEV) technology, a system which can add up to 18kW under acceleration, and can also harvest a maximum of 25kW of kinetic energy when decelerating, all to save fuel.

At launch, there are 112kW and 152kW iterations of a 2.0-litre TFSI petrol drivetrain, with front-wheel drive for the lower-powered model and a choice of front-wheel drive or ‘quattro ultra’ all-wheel drive in the peppier kind. Both use a seven-speed DSG dual-clutch transmission, with CO2 from 150-179g/km. The S5 is of course the go for sports fans, as it makes 274kW.

Ingolstadt is also launching with a diesel, but chances of that coming seem limited. For reference, though, it’s another 2.0-litre four with 152kW and 400Nm. It uses 48-volt mild-hybrid tech with either front- or all-wheel drive and a DSG auto with CO2 at 124-147g/km.

‘All new’ is a bit of a stretch, in that the A5 uses the platform from the previous A4. But Audi Audi says it has improved the chassis, with stiffer front suspension mounts, what it calls ‘more rigidly connected steering’ and various tweaks to the damping. The aim is to make all models, feel more engaging for their driver.

The roof shape of the sedan is very much to fastback to style; so too the boot opening. The access port to the luggage area opens with a hinge at the roofline of the vehicle.

Both this shape and the Avant’s are smoother than the outgoing cars’, but are still recognisably Audi, with all the usual historic styling signatures, some - such as the widened wheel arches - to subliminally remind you of it’s dusty old quattro heritage.

The big techology talking point from Audi’s perspective are the LED front, OLED rear lights. These have eight different signatures, including one that sees the individual triangular graphics in the rear clusters pulse at different rates, giving the effect the back lights are ‘shimmering’.

The cabin environment is going all high-tech. In highest trim there are four screens ahead of the driver and the front-seat passenger. This is what the company is calling the ‘Digital Stage’; a new look for its MMI and digital displays.

Everything centres around an 11.9-inch Virtual Cockpit instrument cluster and a 14.5-inch MMI touchscreen infotainment set-up, with a configurable head-up display, too. the fourth screen is an option; provisioning as a 10.9-inch Front Passenger Display.

Fans of physical controls for the heating, ventilation and air conditioning are in for a big change. These have gone. All controls are clustered in a touch-capacitive strip along the bottom of the main MMI screen. Plus there’s a large pad of buttons on the driver’s door card controlling the mirrors, the door and child locks, the seat memory functions and also some of the exterior lighting. The steering wheel also has haptic touches.

So how’s it sizing up so far? Well, physically, better than before. The A5 is 16mm taller, 13mm wider and fully 67mm longer, with 80mm of that stretch accommodated between the front wheels and the back. Engineering for all-wheel-drive means it has a large transmission tunnel running longitudinally through the cabins.

Being servile to styling does impact on cargo space. The sedan has 445 litres of boot space, so a drop of 35 litres on the old A4 four-door, rising to 1299 litres with its rear seats folded.

The Avant delivers 476 litres with all seats up - whereas the old had 505 - rising to with up to 1424 litres with just the front two seats in use.