With the rapid development of new electric vehicles, brands seem to come up with new cars every week. With this rise in releases comes confusion for consumers, looking to clear things up. By changing its model names for the third time in six years, Audi is trying to separate it from its ICE cars.
Audi’s ambitious EV plans
Audi plans to launch more than 20 new electric cars by the end of 2025. Considering we’re already a quarter of the way to 2023, that goal will be here before we know it. By then, more than half of the German brand’s models will be electric. This can cause confusion when trying to find the right vehicle.
In a presentation on March 16, 2023, CEO Markus Duesmann indicated that Audi’s electric cars will have even-numbered names. Meanwhile, its ICE vehicles will be getting odd-numbered names. Significantly, you will only get even numbers. This means that any plug-in or hybrid Audi cars will carry single-digit indexes.
In fact, Duesmann said the switch has already begun with the Audi e-tron rebranding as the Q8 e-tron after a mid-cycle refresh in 2022. That would make the current gas-powered Q8 model the Q9. This update should happen in the summer of 2023, according to.
This is also in line with rumors that the current A4, which is one of Audi’s most popular gas cars, will be renamed the A5 starting in 2023. Moreover, the German brand plans to introduce the A4 e-tron in early 2024, Although official information on this model has not yet broken cover.
This is not the first Audi name change
Starting in 2017, the German brand changed its naming structure to reflect the engine options available in each model range. Instead of being called the Audi A4 2.0T for its 2.0-liter turbocharged engine, it was named something like Audi A3 45TFSI which means… something. The numerical system has nothing to do with engine displacement or power. Instead, it appears to be a random code that maps different drives from each other.
This happened because Audi started selling multiple versions of the same engine with different power outputs. Both the 35 TFSI and 45 TFSI can be turbocharged 2.0-liters, but the larger engine has more power.
So far, there is no such distinction with the brand’s various electrical outputs. From the 201-hp Q4 e-tron to the 591-hp, they all get the same e-tron badge. As the German company continues to add electric vehicles to its lineup, we expect to see clearer differences between the electric motor options. For now, switching to all even numbers is enough to tell the difference.
