Audi A5 Sportback – first official picture

First official picture of the Audi A5 Sportback (click image for a bigger version)

This time it’s Audi’s turn, with the first official picture of the soon to be revealed Audi A5 Sportback. And it’s such a shock – we’d never have guessed this is how it would look!

The Audi A5 Sportback is Audi’s latest niche car in its quest to fill every niche of car (and then some) – whatever the needs and desires of the car buyer Audi is aiming to fulfill it. But we guess from Audi’s admission that they will not be taking the A5 Sportback to the US that they don’t expect it to be a huge seller.

But actually, we think they could be wrong. Four/five door coupes have become something of a star in car makers line-ups in recent years. The Mercedes CLS is probably the best looking car Mercedes make, and there have been four door coupes by everyone from Volkswagen with the Passat to Porsche with the Panamera. And Audi themselves are planning a bigger four-door coupe with the Audi A7 Sportback that will go head to head with the Mercedes CLS.

The A5 Sportback is a stretched A5 with an extra set of doors. Entry level is expected to be the 168bhp 2.0 litre TDi, although it looks likely that Audi will offer the 141bhp version as well sometime after launch. You can also expect to see 2.7 and 3.0 litre diesel versions and a couple of petrol engines – the 2.0 litre TFSi and the 3.2 V6. Rumour has it that there could also be an RS5 Sportback with the 4.2 V8 out of the Audi RS4 – but not for a while.

We’ll be getting the dance of the seven veils over the coming weeks on the A5 Sportback, and we’ll bring you the details when we get them. Expected to launch in the UK in September, starting prices will be around £26.5k