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Get ready to learn new names for the successors to old Audis. The German luxury brand is following a step-by-step shift in focus to an all-electric future, but there will be a learning curve and likely some confusion getting used to a new naming scheme that will use even or odd numbers to signify the type of powertrain. The good news: Audi has new hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and gas – or diesel-powered vehicles in the works, as well as the introduction of new electric vehicles. The new vehicles on tap will come from two separate platforms: Premium Platform Combustion (PPC) for new ICE vehicles, Premium Platform Electric (PPE) for the new battery-electric vehicles.
The new names are an attempt to better distinguish them. Going forward, EVs will have even numbers: A4, A6, Q4, Q6, Q8. Successors to existing ICE models will switch to odd numbers: A3, A5, A7. There will be no new ICE nameplates, only next generations of existing models as Audi transitions to EVs over the next decade. Why? It was getting confusing having an A6 with a combustion engine and an A6 E-Tron EV, says Oliver Hoffmann, member of the Audi board of management for Technical Development. Renaming successor ICE models makes it clearer as to what propels it.
There will be transition pains that still need to be sorted out like the A8 which got a midcycle upgrade and will not have a successor. It doesn’t make sense to rename the existing Audi A8 as the A9, Hoffmann says. He won’t comment on a Q9 SUV in the works except to say the platform is capable of large SUVs. Another tricky one is the E-Tron GT which doesn’t have a number in its name and will remain the GT.
Author: Alisa Priddle
Source: Motor Trend
