Advance look at Avant

THIS is one of the first official pictures of Audi's new generation A4 Avant, which is due in Australia next year.

The Avant is the wagon version of the new A4 sedan, which was launched in Europe late last year and is due for release here later this month.

Styling is as for the new sedan, with both taking their cues from the larger A6 model as part of a move by Audi to establish a link between its cars to build brand image.

Avant variants account for 44 per cent of the A4's overall production volume and are a popular choice with European buyers, where Audi has sold more than 300,000 examples since the wagon's introduction in 1996.

"In Europe a wagon is considered to be extremely fashionable, but we don't have that same trend here as it is considered more of a practical car than a fashionable one," Audi Australia public relations manager Anna Burgdorf said.

In Australia, Avant models accounted for just over 16 per cent of A4 sales for the first three months of this year - 44 cars out of 270 sold.

Like the sedan, the A4 Avant is bigger than its predecessor and offers increased interior space. The wheelbase has been stretched by 33mm while overall length is up by 61mm, giving rear seat passengers 43mm of much needed extra legroom. Width has also been increased, benefiting the elbow room of front and rear seat passengers to the tune of 17mm and 29mm respectively.

While Audi is yet to confirm which models will be part of the Avant line-up in Australia, they can be expected to share the sedan's new engines - a 96kW, 2.0-litre four cylinder and a 162kW, 3.0-litre V6. The 110kW, 1.8-litre, turbocharged four-cylinder engine will be carried over from the current model.

The Avant picks up the sedan's aluminium suspension components and compact rear axle design, which helps increase luggage capacity by 52 litres to 442 litres.

Fuel tank capacity has also increased with the front-wheel drive models up from 62 litres to 70 litres, while the quattro models have increased by 6 litres to 66 litres.

Standard equipment includes the latest version of Audi's Electronic Stability Program with brake assist, as well as side and head airbags.

Audi will start taking orders in Europe for the A4 Avant from June 11 with deliveries starting in late September. Australian deliveries are expected to begin in the first quarter of 2002.