The all-new Audi SQ5 – Ingolstadt's answer to the BMW X3 M40i – is swiftly approaching a launch in 2024 as the sportiest variant of the totally overhauled Q5 range.
The third-generation version of Audi’s best-selling global model, the Q5, will also be one of the German car maker’s final ICE cars. Before the German firm starts releasing only EVs from 2026, it will launch a new line of combustion engines compliant with the latest Euro 7 emissions regulations.
This is part of a move to continue developing ICE vehicles – both petrol and diesel – alongside EVs “in parallel”, Audi's chief technical officer Oliver Hoffman told Autocar.
“We will bring a completely new family of engines to our PPC [combustion] powertrains - the ICE platform,” he said, stopping short of revealing how closely related these new engines will be to the powerplants currently on sale.
Prototypes of the new Audi Q5 and warmed-up SQ5 are still clad in heavy camouflage, but visible details reveal that the mid-sized crossover will be brought more in line with its newer stablemates, including the electric E-tron models.
The totally overhauled front end resembles a clamshell-style bonnet, a shorter grille, sleek new headlights and new air-intake designs. At the rear, meanwhile, the Q5 looks to have been modelled on the Audi Q4 E-tron, although it's unclear whether a wraparound LED light bar is hiding beneath the wrap.
The success of the Q5 peaked in 2022, with global sales climbing 2.7% to 301,038 representing nearly a fifth of the four-brand Audi Group's total deliveries.
It remains vitally important for the German brand six years on from being launched in its current form.
