Forward-thinking names moving forward.
‘Evolutionary’ German luxury car manufacturer Audi has today announced it will be utilising a new engine badging system for its cars come 2018, in anticipation of the electrified future that it sees for itself. This was an issue that some of us saw coming: With electric and hybrid vehicles, badging cars based on their engine capacity could become increasingly tricky.
Seems that with the new designation, Audi will be ahead of the curve, with the very first recipient of the new naming convention to be the 2018 Audi A8 limousine. Following the new naming convention, vehicles will be grouped together on a scale that begins at 30 and ends at 70, with increments of five depending on the specific output of that specific model.
Presently, we can assume eight new model designations, with those being:
- 30 — models with between 81kW and 96kW
- 35 — models with between 110kW and 120kW
- 40 — models with between 125kW and 150kW
- 45 — models with between 169kW and 185kW
- 50 — models with between 210kW and 230kW
- 60 — models with between 320kW and 340kW
- 70 — models with more than 400kW
Model designations will now, as illustrated above, be linked directly to the driveline of the vehicle itself, and take no regard as to the layout or drivetrain setup of the vehicle. This naming convention will be applied to all vehicles under the Audi umbrella, meaning that for the first time, petrol, hybrid, diesel, natural gas and full-electric vehicles will become directly comparable.
On the new naming system, the sales & marketing boss at Audi had this to say:
“As alternative drive technologies become increasingly relevant, engine displacement as a performance attribute is becoming less important to our customers. The clarity and logic of structuring the designations according to power output makes it possible to distinguish between the various performance levels.” — Dr. Dietmar Voggenreiter, chief of sales and marketing, Audi AG
As for the very first subject of this new designation system, the Audi A8 will now wear slightly different badges. The 3.0TDI will now bear the ‘50TDI’ standard, with the 3.0TFSI petrol gaining the ‘55TFSI’ badge. You may notice that we didn’t mention what is categorised as a ’55’ engine, and that’s because Audi didn’t make it entirely clear. So now you know.
It’s worth mentioning that S and RS models will retain their existing names with no changes, as it would be detrimental to their standing, considering that their names are “in reference to their top position in the model range.” What a relief.
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