It would seem that if you asked the majority of Motor journalists at this point, the new Audi models would appear to be coming to the load of the bucket.
The entire industry is riddled with rumors from left to right and to center about the features or non-features that the new Q5 has which, of course, Audi keeps under a very tight cover.
So what is the motor journalist to do when his editor asks him to go out and find out as much information as possible about the new Audi A4?
Not the easiest task, but here it goes.
What can we expect from the new A4? Well, to be honest, we won’t have to wait that long before the new A4 shows up in ‘the metal’, so to speak, at this year’s Frankfurt Motor Show in Germany in September.
Trying to gather information gleaned from several different sources, it would appear that being a complete is clearly a four-door saloon with what looks like conventional handles. At the front of the car it is likely to display the latest kind of styling the company has become famous for, namely a four-sided grille with the company logo across the front.
At the rear of the car, the light clusters are estimated to resemble a carbon copy of the current rear of the A5 coupe.
The thing about the launch of the new A4 is that, although it is fairly common practice among automakers to keep information secret as much as possible, it is probably quite rare to keep this information control as strict as it currently is.
The reason behind this, according to an Audi spokesperson, was that the company was more interested in not detracting from the popularity of the A4 and thus negatively impacting the sales of one of its flagship models. Considering the fact that the new model is scheduled to go on sale in mid-to-late 2008, then you can understand the company’s reluctance to do anything that could hurt existing sales.
As for the engines of the new series, it is likely that in the early stages the engine range of the current A4 will be carried over, so the popular 2L TDI Diesel variants will not be affected. These are expected to be joined by the naturally aspirated, turbocharged 2-liter petrol variants.
At the higher end of the scale, the company is expected to introduce a number of high-performance variants like the S4 and the RS4 even faster. At the moment, none of Audi’s test staff or design staff is willing to comment.
Lastly, the new A4 is expected to be offered initially in sedan and Avant wagon versions and a new version of the soft top is expected to be launched the following year. The company has yet to make a decision whether the new Cabriolet will retain the cloth top or whether the company will revert to folding metal hard tops following the BMW path.
It is hoped that this will not happen, as the Company is aware that this is a path that they do not wish to travel again.
Time will tell.
