Audi’s Next Chapter: A2, E5 and a New Push Upmarket

✎ Design Studio
Audi wants to move upmarket, but its product strategy is starting to pull in two very different directions. In China, the new E5 Sportback shows just how far the brand can go, combining 800V charging, advanced software and a new generation of digital architecture developed with SAIC.

In Europe, meanwhile, Audi is preparing the A2 e-tron — an efficient, appealing compact EV, but one that enters an increasingly crowded space alongside its Volkswagen ID.3 and Cupra Born siblings, as well as a growing number of better-value Asian rivals.

If Audi really wants to create more distance between itself and the rest of the Volkswagen Group, the answer may lie further up the range — with a new A7, A8 and Q8. (Image Credit: TNY Design Studio)

The E5 shows just how much Audi and SAIC have already achieved together. For roughly £30,000 in China — around half the price of a comparable A6 e-tron in Britain — it can combine an 800V architecture with a battery of up to 100kWh, as much as 787PS and charging approaching 400kW, enough to add around 370km of range in just ten minutes.

The long-range A6 e-tron also uses a 100kWh battery and 800V architecture, yet charging peaks at 270kW. The E5 is therefore not simply a cheaper Audi developed for China; in some important technical areas, it is already ahead of Audi’s European range. If Audi genuinely wants to move further upmarket, SAIC could help bring that faster development and more advanced EV technology west.

It is particularly telling that the E5 not only charges faster than Audi’s halo e-tron GT, but also brings a more advanced software architecture. And that technology is not entirely confined to China: SAIC already offers similar hardware in Britain through the MG IM5 and IM6, with 800V systems and 100kWh versions capable of charging from 10–80% in around 17 minutes. The IM5 Long Range also reaches up to 441 miles WLTP. (Image Credit: Audi)

The A2 e-tron is, on paper, an impressive small EV. Audi quotes up to 397 miles under WLTP testing, while extensive aerodynamic optimisation, including active cooling, a smoother underbody and dedicated aero wheels, helps it pull ahead of its ID.3 and Cupra Born siblings.

The problem is strategic. Does Audi, while talking about moving further upmarket, really need another £30,000-something hatchback sharing its foundations with its Volkswagen Group siblings?

You could almost argue that the A2 makes more sense as the electric car that could have saved SEAT. If Volkswagen Group genuinely believed there was still room for a value-focused mainstream brand, a practical, efficient and relatively affordable EV like this feels closer to SEAT's historical role than Audi's future ambitions.

There is another irony too: it could be one of the last new Audis built around the wide-grille design theme, just as the brand prepares to move towards Audi's new Vertical Frame design language, already introduced on the Nuvolari. (Image Credit: Audi)

The A2 therefore enters one of the most fiercely contested parts of the EV market. Beyond Volkswagen Group, increasingly capable rivals from Kia, MG, Leapmotor and Tesla are putting pressure on both price and specification. With the Tesla Model 3 now starting below £38,000 in Britain, there is only so far a premium-badged compact EV can stretch its value proposition.

That raises a broader question for Audi. If the brand's ambition is to move further upmarket, is its greatest opportunity really another compact hatchback, or the larger, higher-margin models that can better justify the technology, design and premium positioning it increasingly says it wants?

The A7 Sportback could be where those ambitions start to make the most sense. A long, low electric fastback would give the brand a more natural way to chase BMW and Mercedes, while also opening the door to the sort of sleek aerodynamics needed to join the 500-mile EV range club. The E5’s electrical and software architecture could form the basis of a more convincing European flagship.
Our rendering explores exactly that idea, combining the long, low proportions of an A7 Sportback with Audi’s new design language, using the squarer, more upright front-end treatment already seen on the Nuvolari.

With the A7 already gone and the current A8 now at the end of its production run, Audi has effectively vacated the traditional flagship saloon space just as BMW and Mercedes continue to invest heavily in the i7 and EQS. A new A8 could restore that clear halo role, giving the brand somewhere to showcase its best charging, software, suspension and cabin technology.

Without direct electric rivals to the BMW i7 and Mercedes-Benz EQS, Audi risks ceding the luxury EV flagship segment to its competitors and competing from the middle of the premium market instead.
A new flagship architecture would not have to serve Audi alone. It could also support other premium Volkswagen Group brands. Bentley’s Flying Spur remains a plug-in hybrid, while the newly revealed Torcal SUV is its first fully electric production model.

A suitably flexible A8 architecture could potentially underpin a future electric Bentley saloon too — keeping Crewe’s range from becoming overly SUV-focused while spreading the cost of another high-end electric platform across two premium brands.


The Q8 gives Audi another route upmarket without abandoning the SUV buyers that now dominate the premium market. Positioned as the sportier, more design-led counterpart to the Q7 and beneath the larger Q9, it can act as Audi’s halo performance SUV rather than another family-focused seven-seater.

Importantly, the Q8’s future has recently been secured. Audi CEO Gernot Döllner revealed that when he joined Audi there was no decision to replace it, but that the company has since reversed course and approved a next-generation Q8.

Our rendering imagines that successor using Audi’s new design language, while keeping the lower, more dramatic stance that gives the Q8 a distinct role alongside the Q7 and Q9.


Audi’s challenge now is not a lack of technology, but deciding where that technology should take the brand next. The A2 e-tron may be a strong small EV, yet the bigger opportunity arguably lies further up the range, where Audi can create more space between itself and its Volkswagen Group relatives while better justifying premium pricing.

The E5 has already shown what Audi and SAIC can achieve together. And with SAIC already bringing similar technology to Britain through MG, the question becomes harder to ignore: why couldn’t more of it find its way into Audi’s European range?

If Audi can bring those lessons into a new generation of A7, A8 and Q8 models, it may finally have the foundations for a more clearly defined and genuinely more upmarket future. (Image Credit: TNY Design Studio)

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