One of the main attraction and pleasant surprises at Detroit Auto Show is the Audi Sportback Concept, a four door vehicle with a coupe feel and look. Having design features imported from the Audi A5 Coupe, the Audi Sportback Concept is more of a preview of the A7 Sedan due to arrive next year.
If you’re still unclear about the term “Sportback”, then allow me to explain it briefly. The Sportback naming convention refers to a fastback sedan with a more coupeish roofline, something we have seen in the Porsche Panamera. Audi’s CEO, Rupert Stadler says that similar designs will be implemented in the Audi line-up.
Many journalists, including our friends at Jalopnik, talk about the Audi Sportback as being similar to the BMW X6, a bit shorter and sitting on lower suspensions. As far as myself, I do see some similarities in the rear-end, but the comparison stops right there.
We have mentioned before that BMW sees Audi as their newest and toughest competitor, going head-to-head in almost every market. The new Sportback Concept is going after the premium segment and Audi actually has a chance.
Continued
The front-end of Sportback Concept is absolutely stunning, from the “bling-bling” sexy LED headlights, to the large upright grille and sharper lines.
Put those together with an a simple but very modern interior design, and we might have a winner. The light colored leather trim fits perfectly with the high-quality wood trim and of course, the exceptional Audi Multi-Media Interface.
Some of the previous Audi interiors, while they were still top notch, gave you the impression of cramming too many features and buttons together into the dashboard, but this one, it’s a all different game. Of course, if you’re into the driver-oriented dashboard design, then this might not be for you.
And to make our jaws really drop, Audi added the panoramic roof, which says “Hello Mercedes, we are here”.
The engine powering the Sportback Concept is the one which Audi Q7 will be using: the 3.0-liter TDI diesel with 225hp/406 lb-ft. Of course, quattro is part of the deal, along with the seven-speed S-Tronic dual clutch gear box.
Top speed? Around 152mph and still maintaining an fuel efficient status: 39 mpg.
Now we all know that we at BMWBlog are all bimmer fans, but I have to be objective and hand it to Audi, they designed this car based on future trends and changing the game a little bit. Could BMW do the same? We can only hope so, with so many new models coming out in the near future.
But allow me to ask a question before you can all jump to the next article, could the Sportback Concept/A7 sedan make you jump ship?
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