| Audi Sportback Concept | ||
 |
||
|
(Mon 12 Jan 09) Audi's Sportback concept car, on display now at Detroit, serves three purposes. First, it shows how Audi sees the development of the Sportback name, which so far has been applied only to the estate version of the A3 and the A1 Sportback concept shown at the Paris last year. The new car is a large (roughly A6-sized) coupé with a very un-coupélike hatchback, and acts as a deliberate implication on Audi's part that this kind of car is what we can expect in future.
Second, the Sportback gives some idea of how Audi's design language will develop. It is recognisably related to current models, but there's a more robust and sharp-edged quality of which we may be seeing more in the years to come. Finally, the Sportback is a showcase for new technology, none of it surely all that far from production. The concept's engine is a 222bhp three-litre turbo diesel which gives the Sportback a top speed of 152mph and a 0-62mph time of under 7 seconds. But it also has combined fuel economy of 47.8mpg and produces 156g/km of CO2 in the official European test, thanks to various fuel-saving devices. These include energy recuperation (boosting alternator output and charging the battery) which is already available on the production A4 and Q5, along with a stop/start system and pumps for the power steering and fuel system which operate only when required. The seven-speed DSG transmission has its heater which brings the oil up to operating temperature - and therefore brings friction down to optimum level - much sooner than would otherwise be the case.
The Sportback uses 380mm ceramic brake discs under its 21" wheels, and while these are both fairly impractical features for a production car at the moment, the large glass sunroof and the 500-litre luggage compartment seem far more likely to make it into the showrooms. Will that happen? Audi isn't confirming anything, but points out that the Sportback is " the latest in a long line of Audi design studies, many of which have transferred virtually unchanged to the production line". So you never know. |
