Audi has just launched the new A7 Sportback over in Europe. This is the second generation A7 and one which replaces the original which was first launched in 2010. Yes, it has been seven years since Audi released its 'four door coupe' so this is the new one.
This Audi A7 Sportback is special because it showcases the latest in the brand's design language. It is the second model after the recently launched A8 that features the current Audi styling. Of course, being the flagship four door car with coupe styling the A7 appeals to a slightly different bunch of people compared to the A8. I have to say that the new design makes the A7 looks wider and flatter than the previous one. It also is larger inside because of this too.
The new Audi A7 Sportback will obviously showcase a slew of equipment and also the latest vehicle-drive interface that Audi can offer. Since the A7 sits high up in the Audi hirearchy, there will be a lot of toys, gadgetry and equipment for the drive and passenger. There will also be a high level of automation in terms of how the can drives. Another step closer to self-driving cars of course.
Audi will initially launch the A7 Sportback one engine. The 3.0 TFSI V6 engine paired with a seven-speed S tronic transmission and quattro drivetrain, with additional six- and four engines, in both gasoline and diesel to follow after the start of production.
The 3.0 V6 turbo engine produces 340 hp and 500 Nm of torque. 0 to 100 km/h is made in 5.3 seconds and it will have a a top speed of 250 km/h. Audi claims that the A7 consumes 6.8 litres of fuel per 100 kilometres, corresponding to CO2 emissions of 154 grams (247.8 g/mi) under NDEC guidelines. There is an improvement in efficiency courtesy of the improved quattro drivetrain with ultra technology that activates rear-wheel drive only when needed.
There is also mild hybridisation in all engines used in the A7 Sportback. This system uses a 48-volt primary electrical system with a belt alternator starter (BAS) working in tandem with a lithium-ion battery that achieves a recuperation performance of up to 12 kW when braking. At speeds between 55 and 160 km/h, the A7 can coast in freewheeling mode with the engine deactivated and then restarted comfortably via the BAS.
The start-stop function has been significantly expanded and now activates at 22 km/h. In combination with the standard front camera, the engine is restarted by the car's systems while at a standstill as soon as vehicle ahead begins to move. Audi claims that in real-world driving, the MHEV technology reduces fuel consumption by up to 0.7 liters per 100 kilometers.
The new Audi A7 Sportback rolls off the assembly line at the Neckarsulm site and will launch on the German market in late February 2018 with the base price for the 55 TFSI quattro S tronicat 67,800 euros.
Expect right-hand drive variants to follow shortly after and a Malaysian launch sometime after that too!
PRESS RELEASE
The all-new Audi A7 Sportback:
The second-generation Audi A7
embodies the new, progressive design language of Audi’s full-size segment.
Athletic proportions and a dynamic body line define its emotive character. With
the innovative lighting design and the futuristic interior, design and
technology combine in a unique way in Audi’s new four-door Gran Turismo.
Ingolstadt,
20October 2017 – Back in 2010, Audi made a bold
statement with the first-generation A7 sportback; the four-door coupé combined
exquisite elegance and sporting dynamism in a wholly new way. With its second
iteration, Audi’s four-door Gran Turismo becomes the next impressive showcase
of Audi’s new full-size design language, which began with the new Audi A8
earlier this year.
The hallmark of each new Audi full-size class model is
based on a characteristic leitmotif. While the Audi A8 embodies prestige in its
design, the design language of the new A7 stands for pure progressiveness. With
a sculpted body defined by striking edges, the all-new Audi A7 Sportback
represents a consummate expression of all the values of the brand with the four
rings; progressiveness, sportiness and sophistication.
The sporty vanguard of Audi’s full-size class: simultaneously a Coupé, Avant and sedan
The A7 Sportback combines a talent for business and
recreation in an irresistible package that melds the design of a Coupé, the
spaciousness of a Sedan and the versatility of an Avant.At a glance, the Audi
A7 Sportback projects an athletic profile with a muscular engine hood,
expansive wheelbase and short overhangs.
Pronounced contours emphasize the large wheels (up to
21” in diameter) and reference Audi’s quattro genes, which determine the
proportions of the vehicle’s body. All volumes, surfaces and edges have been
designed with the utmost precision, and this is most evident in the sloping
roofline to the rear of the vehicle, which gives it its iconic and elegant
silhouette.
Four figures
encapsulate the sporty character and the muscular proportions of the large Audi
A7 four-door coupé: It is 4,969 millimeters (16.3 ft) long, has a wheelbase of
2,926 millimeters (9.6 ft), 1,908 millimeters (6.3 ft) wide, and stands only
1,422 millimeters (4.7 ft) high.Compared with the previous model, interior
length has increased 21 millimeters (0.8 in), resulting in more rear knee room
as well as more head room for rear passengers. In terms of luggage space, the
base capacity of 535 litres is certainly sizeable, but this increases to 1,390
litres (49.1 cu ft) with the rear seats folded down. The luggage compartment
has also been optimized so that two golf bags can fit in horizontally.
More so than before, the Singleframe grille dominates
the front-end of the new Audi A7 Sportback. Positioned wider and lower, it
expresses the sporty character of the four-door coupé immediately. All the
adjoining surfaces and lines radiate out from the grille, such as the contours
on the engine hood and the flat headlights. The calm, horizontally aligned
contour of the headlights provides space for a spectacular lighting design.
The side view is a dialog of taut
lines and convex surfaces, most prominent being a low-set shoulder line that
runs around the entire car lowers the optical center of gravity of the A7
Sportback. This extension of the car’s breadth extends from the headlight, runs
to the corner of the rear light and forms powerful muscles above the wheel
arches to underline it’s tribute to Audi’s legendary Ur-quattro, the original
quattro vehicle. At the rear, the Audi A7 Sportback also features a trademark
integrated spoiler, which not only gives it a distinctive shape when deployed
at speeds of over 130 km/h, but also additional stability at high speeds. The
body, which features steel and aluminum composite construction with large
components made of aluminum, is a key factor in the improved handling and
greater comfort. The four-door coupéscores top marks with respect to body
stiffness, aeroacoustics and aerodynamics.
For Audi, the lighting design is
more than just styling, it is the aesthetic expression of the brand values of
progressiveness, sophistication and sportiness, in short: “VorsprungdurchTechnik.”
Audi once again underscores its leading role in lighting technology with the
striking light signature of the new Audi A7Sportback. Available with three
headlight options; LED, HD Matrix LED as well as HD Matrix LED with laser high
beam, the two more advanced variants stand out with a distinctive horizontal
light structure both on the front as well as the rear.
Whenever the doors are locked or
unlocked, fast moving animations commence in the front and rear lights ,
highlighting this four-door coupé’s dynamism and presence, even whilst standing
still and providing a visual treat every single time. The new Audi A7 thus
impressively symbolizes the new era of Audi’s lighting design; digital,
individual and built on the aesthetics of movement.
Luxury
meets technology inside the new Audi A7
The interior of the Audi A7
Sportback fuses design and technology in a unique way to create a futuristic lounge
atmosphere. Its reduced, clean design language is based on finding a balance
between tension and coolness, whilst systematically continuing the
digitalization strategy set by the Audi A8. The interior architecture
seamlessly melds with Audi’s new MMI touch response operating concept that
replaces the rotary push button and conventional buttons of before with two
large, high-resolution touch displays.
The MMI touch response operating
concept features haptic and acoustic feedback and is as intuitive to use as a
smartphone. Users hear and feel a click as confirmation when their finger
triggers a function. With its logical and flat menu structure, the system
allows fast access to the various vehicle functions, and it can also be
personalized thanks to configurable and movable favorites buttons.The 10.1-inch
upper display which controls the infotainment system (in combination with MMI
navigation plus) is deployed with black panel optics and framed in a graphite
gray aluminum clasp, making it invisible until the car doors are opened in
order to greet the driver. Mounted on the asymmetric console of the center
tunnel, the 8.6-inch lower display provides access to the climate control
system, comfort functions and text input.
The inclusion of MMI navigation
plus also sees the installation of the Audi virtual cockpit, providing a high-resolution,
fully digital 12.3” instrument cluster that is focused entirely around the
driver, and can provide access to infotainment, communication and navigation
functions without the driver ever having to lift his hands off the wheel. An
optional head-up display and voice control further accentuate the ease at which
owners can receive and provide information in the new Audi A7 Sportback,
underlining Audi’s commitment to revolutionizing the interaction between driver
and vehicle through technology.
Speaking of technology, the Audi
A7 Sportback will see the same level of automation as the flagship Audi A8.
Available in 2018, the AI button in the Audi A7 Sportback will enable the
driver to activate the Audi AI remote parking pilot and the Audi AI remote
garage pilotwhich can autonomously maneuver the A7 Sportback into and out of a
parking space or garage. The driver can get out of the car before launching the
function via the myAudi app on their smartphone. The central driver assistance
controller (zFAS) merges the data from a sophisticated set of sensors to continually
compute an image of the surroundings. Depending on the equipment level, there
can be as many as five radar sensors, five cameras, 12 ultrasonic sensors and a
laser scanner.
Besides the Audi AI systems, the
new Audi A7 Sportback features a total of 39 driver assistance systems to make
things easier for the driver. They are split up into three packages: the Audi
AI parking package (gradual introduction beginning 2018), the City assist
package with the new crossing assist, and the Tour assist package. The latter
includes such things as the efficiency assistant, which facilitates a driving
style conducive to reducing consumption, and the adaptive driving assistant
(ADA), which supplements the adaptive cruise control (ACC) with helpful
steering interventions to maintain the lane.
Built
for speed and distance: Audi’s very own Gran Turismo
The new Audi A7Sportback further
extends its synthesis of sportiness and comfort; the optional dynamic-all-wheel
steering, the new electronic chassis program (ECP) and the updated air
suspension make it even more agile, nimble and comfortable in any conditions.
The Audi A7Sportback is thus the perfect Gran Turismo: dynamic and agile on
twisty country roads, yet comfortable on long highway stretches.
The standard progressive
steering, whose generally sporty ratio becomes even more direct the further the
steering wheel is turned, featuring a new concept for intensive road feedback.
Mounted behind large wheels – up to 21 inches and 255/35 – with improved
rolling comfort are aluminum fixed-caliper brakes with discs up to 400
millimeters (15.7 in) in diameter. Customers can choose between four suspension
setups: a conventional steel spring suspension, the sport suspension that
lowers ride height by 10 millimeters (0.4 in), electronically controlled
damping and the self-leveling adaptive air suspension.
The top chassis-related
innovation is dynamic-all-wheel steering. It combines direct, sporty steering
response with unshakable stability, resolving the conflict of aims between
agility and comfort. The steering ratio varies as a function of speed between
9.5:1 and 16.5:1 by means of active steering interventions at the front and
rear axle. At the front axle, strain wave gearing is used to superimpose these
in response to the driver’s steering input. At the rear axle, a spindle drive
turns the wheels by as much as 5 degrees. At low speed, they steer counter to
the front wheels to further increase the agility of the Gran Turismo when
parking or driving in urban traffic, for example. This reduces the turning
circle at full lock by 1.1 meters (3.6 ft). At 60 km/h (37.3 mph) and above,
the rear axle steers in the same direction to increase straight-line stability
and facilitate lane changes.
The new Audi A7 Sportback will
initially launch with the 3.0 TFSI V6 engine paired with a seven-speed S tronic
transmission and quattro drivetrain, with additional six- and four engines, in
both gasoline and diesel to follow after the start of production. The initialV6
turbo engine produces 340 hp (250 kW) and 500 Nm of torque (368.8 lb-ft)
enabling the four-door coupéto sprint from 0 to 100 km/h in 5.3 seconds and
post a top speed of 250 km/h (155.3 mph).In the NEDC, the base version of the
Audi A7 55 TFSI consumes 6.8 litres of fuel (34.6 US mpg) per 100 kilometres,
corresponding to CO2 emissions of 154 grams (247.8 g/mi), with the frugal fuel
consumption courtesy of the improved quattro drivetrain with ultra technology
that activates rear-wheel drive as needed.
All engines used in the A7
Sportback will come standard with a new mild hybrid system (MHEV) for greater
comfort and efficiency. This system uses a 48-volt primary electrical system
with a belt alternator starter (BAS) working in tandem with a lithium-ion battery
that achieves a recuperation performance of up to 12 kW when braking.At speeds
between 55 and 160 km/h (34.2 – 99.4 mph), the four-door coupécan coast in
freewheeling mode with the engine deactivated and then restarted comfortably
via the BAS. The start-stop function has been significantly expanded and now
activates at 22 km/h (13.7 mph). In combination with the standard front camera,
the engine is restarted predictively while at a standstill as soon as vehicle
ahead begins to move. In real-world driving, the MHEV technology reduces fuel
consumption by up to 0.7 liters per 100 kilometers.
The new Audi A7 Sportback rolls
off the assembly line at the Neckarsulm site and will launch on the German
market in late February 2018 with the base price for the 55 TFSI quattro S
tronicat 67,800 euros.
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