Last week, the world took its first look at the Audi A5 and S5, two coupes that will play a big role in boosting Audi’s image around the world. But underneath, the cars‘ fundamentals are far more important to the brand’s future, as Audi CEO Rupert Stadler told TheCarConnection inGeneva.
The A5 and S5, in any other year, at any other automaker, would be introduced separately – as much as a year apart. Audi’s sending them off into the market simultaneously because of the steady stream of new Audis heading to market. In all, Audi launched 12 new models in 12 months in 2006, and this year will be equally busy, Stadler says.
The A5 comes on the heels of the supercar R8, which the young executive says is “the most emotional product Audi ever had…a real Audi sportscar.” The two-door shares some of its mechanicals with the Lamborghini Gallardo, and Stadler says that marketing the new supercar requires close cooperation with Lamborghini’s U.S. arm. Lamborghini, he explains, is the “cutting edge” sportscar, with volumes of less than 1000 units a year. With a slightly less powerful engine, the Audi R8 will be positioned slightly more mainstream – but likely north of $125,000, alongside the likes of the Porsche 911 Turbo.
Stadler says that now is the right time for a car like the R8 to arrive on the Audi scene – but the A5 and S5 have been anticipated even more. Audi’s been without a premium coupe in its lineup for eleven years, the Audi CEO says, while BMW continues to mine sales from its 3-Series and 6-Series and Mercedes from the CLK.
The A5 range will include the usual variety of models. To the A5/S5 lineup, Audi also will add an R version. While there are some model lines that will not have the ultimate-performance R versions – the A3 and A8, specifically – the S5 won’t go long before it becomes an RS5.
Stadler also hinted that a convertible version of the A5 is coming. Other Audi execs offered that when it arrives, the droptop won’t be a hardtop convertible. Among Audi’s engineers and marketers, a soft-top convertible is the near-universal choice, even though the technology for coupe-convertibles clearly exists within the VW Group in cars like the Eos.