Hot Audi S5 to beat A5 to market

MAKING its global debut virtually simultaneously at the Geneva and Melbourne motor shows last Tuesday evening (March 6, local time) was Audi’s stunning new S5 coupe, which will beat its A5 donor vehicle to Aussie shores when it is released late this year.

Bigger and more luxurious than the new TT Coupe (and also expected to spawn a convertible derivative), the mid-sized two-door four-seater is Audi’s direct, albeit belated, response to BMW’s 3 Series Coupe and the Mercedes-Benz CLK – as well as its first coupe since the Audi 100.

Audi Australia expects to sell around 800 annual examples of the A5/S5, which began life as the 2003 Nuvolari concept and is based on a new platform that is shared with the upcoming Q5 SUV and features an all-new steering/engine relationship that promises vastly sharper handling and steering.

Left: Q7 4.2 TDI.

Expect the front-drive turbocharged 125kW TFSI four-cylinder to eventually open the range, priced somewhere between BMW’s $70,200 323i coupe and Benz’s $84,400 CLK200K, and the 4.2-litre FSI V8-powered S5 quattro to launch the new coupe range at between $120,000 and $130,000.

All-wheel drive 3.0 TDI and 3.2 FSI variants of the A5 will follow the S5. Audi also used Geneva to showcase its new Q7 4.2 TDI SUV variant, powered by a 240kW/760Nm V8 turbo-diesel, which goes on sale here in October.

What's coming from Audi:
A4 Avant 2.0 TDI wagon	March
A6 Allroad Quattro wagon	May
A3 1.8 TFSI hatch	May
S3 hatch	June
TT Roadster	June
R8 coupe	September
Q7 3.6 FSI V6 wagon	October
Q7 4.2 TDI wagon	October
S5 coupe	December