Next-Gen Audi A4 Won't Make The Switch To Electric Power

Are you confused by Audi's statement that it plans to goall-electric by 2026？别担心,你并不孤单。Trying to figure outAudi's future plansis like attempting to win a game of Monopoly. After hours of research, you simply develop a nasty case of existential anxiety so bad that you start journaling.

Prepare to be confused even more, becauseAuto Express最近进行了一项澳大利亚的独家采访i's head of technical development, Oliver Hoffman.

Therein, Hoffman talked about the newAudi A4, which will be based on anew generation of petrol and diesel engines. We were under the impression that Audi stopped internal combustion development, but there you go. In an attempt to explain the situation better, Audi released the helpful graph below.

But back to the new A4, which is expected to arrive in 2023. In addition to ICE powertrains, there will be mild and plug-in hybrids. Hoffman describes these engines as the best it has ever launched.

According to Hoffman, the A4 accounts for around a fifth of all Audi sales globally, so even though the humble sedan is dying out, there is still enough demand to keep on building the A4. "The development of the next generation of A4 is underway," says Hoffman. "We'll offer that car, and the A6, for a lot of years."

This correlates neatly with Audi's graph, which attempts to clarify a sweeping statement made by Audi's boss, Markus Duesman. The last new combustion engine will be launched in 2025, around two years after the arrival of the A4. The A4 will then follow its typical seven-year lifecycle, after which Audi will be fully or nearly EV only.

While Hoffman mentioned a diesel model, Dieselgate ensured that Audi would never sell another diesel car in the USA again. The US-bound A4s will most likely make use of the VW group's 2.0-liter turbocharged petrol engine.

It's rumored that VW is currently tinkering with the EA888 engine by including higher pressure fuel injection and possibly introducing variable-section turbines in the turbocharger. This engine, as used in the GTI, is already a peach. Now imagine what it would be like if Audi added an electric motor to the rear axle. The combination of that powerful turbocharged four-pot and the instant torque provided by an electric motor could give the A4 enough low-down grunt to outsprint the currentS4 sedan.

Audi is usually quite reserved for design, so we're expecting the traditional four-door sedan layout, possibly incorporating some of the design elements introduced by theSkysphereandGrandsphereconcept cars.