Audi tears up naming strategy as EV sales falter
Got your head around even-numbered electric Audis and odd-numbered ones with engines? It's all changing again
Once upon a time, an Audi naming strategy snafu was a simple one. Remember the introduction of badges like 35, 40 and 50 for power output? The ones nobody understood? Sorting that out looks like a walk in the park against this latest refresh. Not so long ago Audi said that, going forward, its even-numbered cars - both ‘A’ and ‘Q’, so like A6 and Q6 - would be electric only. And that was already in evidence with the new e-tron versions of both. Models that were retaining combustion power of any kind would be sold only as odd numbers, so the car that was the S4 became the S5. The replacement for the current RS6 was likely to be an RS7 Avant, that sort of thing.
It made some sense once up to speed - right up until it didn't. Now the strategy is being binned. Following “intensive discussions and also… the wishes of our customers as well as feedback from our international dealers”, according to Sales and Marketing board Member Marco Schubert, Audi is removing the link between alphanumeric name and drivetrain technology. So an A6 can be petrol, electric or hybrid, for example, as can any other A- or Q-badged Audi going forward.
The models will be designated in the old-fashioned way: TFSI for a petrol one, TFSI e for a plug-in hybrid petrol model, e-tron for all-electric, TDI for d… you get it. That will apply to all models, whether hatch, saloon, SUV or wagon. Indeed to make sure everyone has this new message nice and clear, a new A6 with a combustion engine - the model that up until today was an electric car - will be introduced on March 4. That’ll be the A6 Avant TFSI, to sit alongside the A6 Avant e-tron. Given the history around the badge, we’d have to imagine that this move means the RS6 moniker can be retained (a future plug-in was going to be an RS7 Avant), though nothing is confirmed for the moment.
Audi’s announcement also said that no retroactive name changes will take place for those cars already on sale, so an S5 won’t go back to being an S4. That headache can wait for facelift time at the very least. Or the RS4/5. Schubert added: “Our nomenclature now provides all customers worldwide with an intuitive orientation in our portfolio. We choose the names of our models in a way that reveals size and positioning at first glance.” Almost like it didn’t need too much meddling with in the first place.
On the other hand, the sales situation really has been tough going, especially as widely reported for electric - and notably for Audi. In 2024 just 164,000 of 1.7m global sales were EV, and 108,000 of those were the Q4 e-tron, so it just doesn’t make sense for entire model families, particularly those with decades of heritage attached, to be limited to a drivetrain technology that isn’t selling as expected right now.
Sales across the globe were down last year - 21 per cent in Germany, 13 per cent in the USA, 11 per cent in China - and electric vehicles suffered in all of those. Hard to see them changing in the immediate future, either. So little surprise that the new naming convention, which prevented Audi from (re)installing petrol engines in half the range, had to change along with its powertrain strategy. Let’s hope for the sake of all our brains this one sticks around a little while. Expect more on the A6 (with an engine) in due course.
They would have been better just going with E4 or A4e for the A4 sized electric car, which is essentially what they are now doing by calling it A4 e-tron, except that there are presumably several thousand Audis floating around with odd names from a one year window.
Good luck searching for an Audi on auto trader in a few years time!
The Q4 Etron at 4588mm long is a C Segment SUV. Really should be renamed to Q3 Etron to fit in with their current line up.
I personally resigned myself to the fact that any new car coming out I'm either not interested in (because it's a boring runabout, an EV or a SUV) or can't afford (because it's past 100k price tag). So I'll just pick something used but nice, with a V8, and run with it till it falls apart completely.
When they’re designing ground up cars they have the opportunity to make one to fit all drivetrains so why not just start with that
The A6 and the forthcoming A7 are 2 different cars, why not just sell a A6 and badge it as A6, in the same way as you can buy a Vauxhall corsa with petrol or electric it’s the same looking car
I suppose they’ve already done that with rebranding the ETRON SUV to the Q8 etron
Am I right in thinking Audi will be selling 2 models of car under the same name or will the new petrol a7 be called the a6 now but look different to the electric A6 already on sale??
They would have been better just going with E4 or A4e for the A4 sized electric car, which is essentially what they are now doing by calling it A4 e-tron, except that there are presumably several thousand Audis floating around with odd names from a one year window.
Good luck searching for an Audi on auto trader in a few years time!
When they’re designing ground up cars they have the opportunity to make one to fit all drivetrains so why not just start with that
The A6 and the forthcoming A7 are 2 different cars, why not just sell a A6 and badge it as A6, in the same way as you can buy a Vauxhall corsa with petrol or electric it’s the same looking car
Am I right in thinking Audi will be selling 2 models of car under the same name or will the new petrol a7 be called the a6 now but look different to the electric A6 already on sale??
Makes sense to free yourself from the packaging compromises that result from trying to have one model work for all drivetrains (although ironically, that hasn't really manifested itself with the A6 Etron as packaging doesn't appear to have been well resolved for rear passengers and boot space).
They’ve dialled back the interior quality to cut costs and the world and their dog are 4WD these days, so where’s their niche?
Changing the model names like this was some marketing department w
k that anyone with half a brain could tell you was just going to cause confusion and confused customers don’t buy cars.They would have been better just going with E4 or A4e for the A4 sized electric car, which is essentially what they are now doing by calling it A4 e-tron, except that there are presumably several thousand Audis floating around with odd names from a one year window.
Good luck searching for an Audi on auto trader in a few years time!
You get 800 results, then have to put GT (or whatever dreivative you want) in the keywords box and go fro there.I was in Audi last week - "Oh, I thought the A5 was a coupe, are they doing an Estate now?" The salesmans rolled his eyes and said it was the same as the A6 estate with a rounder back. I suspect he was mistaken
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