Audi Adopts A New Naming Style For Its Models, And Its A Bit Confusing

Audi has announced that it will be adopting a new naming style for its models worldwide beginning sometime in the final quarter of this year.

The company says that the new standardised nomenclature aims to clearly define the hierarchy in each model series.

How the new style will work is that the names of the model series – from the Audi A1 and the Audi Q7 – will remain unchanged, but within the model families, two-digit numbers will replace the various engine capacity designations used currently.

The numbers, which won’t directly correspond to a car’s output, actually represent a range of power, and will apply to both vehicles with combustion engines as well as hybrids and electric powered ones.

For example, “30” will appear on models with power outputs of between 110PS and 130PS, “45” will be used for models that produce between 230PS and 252PS, and they will go all the way to “70” which can be found on vehicles that make 544PS and more.

In each case the numerals will appear along with the engine technology indicator – TFSI, TDI, g-tron or e-tron on the vehicles’ rear.

Simply put, there will now be a two-digit number between the model name and the engine technology indicator – Audi A4 45 TFSI for instance, instead of Audi A4 1.4T TFSI, and the bigger the number, the more powerful the model is. That’s all.  

High-performance models like S and RS variants as well as the R8 however will retain their names in reference to their top position in the model range.

The new A8, which will be unveiled within the next couple of months will be the first model to adopt the new naming style, where the two six-cylinder engines have been redesignated from ‘A8 3.0 TDI’ and ‘A8 3.0 TFSI’ to ‘A8 50 TDI’ and ‘A8 55 TFSI’.