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Hot Audi Q5 on way Audi will reveal a hot Q5 SUV at Le Mans this weekend – and a new line-up of other fast SUVs is expected too
Audi is readying a range of performance SUVs, Auto Express has learned. Keen to compete with Mercedes’ AMG-badged off-roaders and BMW’s line-up of M-badged X5 and X6 super 4x4s, Audi will launch a high performance Q5 at this weekend’s Le Mans 24hr race. 

Following hot on the heels of the Q3 RS concept – revealed at April’s Beijing Motor Show – it will be the fastest and most powerful Q5 yet. Audi is keeping tight-lipped for now on the exact details, but the new hot Q5 is expected to be powered by the same 3.0-litre V6 bi-turbodiesel as the A6 BiTDI. 

With 309bhp and a huge 640Nm of torque, it should be capable of 0-60mph in five seconds with a top speed of 155mph, yet also 45mpg. Expect quattro four-wheel drive plus uprated brakes, a muscular bodykit and sports seats. A 3.0-litre supercharged V6 petrol version is also mooted. 

While it has a long history of producing high performance versions of its estates and saloons, Audi has been slow to capitalise on the growing market for fast SUVs – demanded by buyers in the Europe, the middle east, the US and China – and a hot Q5 is likely to be the first of a new line-up. 

“You have to ask yourself, will it fit with the brand values of our S and RS models?  Will it be agile enough, light enough, fast enough?” high-performance engine technology chief, Oliver Hoffmann, told Auto Express on the launch of the RS4 Avant. “We would never do an RS version of the Q7. Besides, the V12 diesel model is quite fast enough, but a smaller model [like the Q3 and Q5]? Yes, there is certainly room there.” 

Expect a price tag of around £50,000 for the hot Q5, a model that would give Audi a rival to the BMW X5 550d. It should go on sale in 2013. The Q3 RS concept, powered by a 335bhp 2.5-litre five-cylinder turbocharged engine, is set to go on sale in production form in 2014.  Audi is also planning a range of hot diesel saloons include diesel versions of the S6 and S7. 

In related news, the next generation R8 will be much more economical thanks to cylinder deactivation – a system which shuts down half the engine’s cylinders under light acceleration to save fuel. “It is already a feature of our new twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 [for the S6, S7 and S8 and Bentley Continental V8] and we can develop it for both the new V8 and V10 engines for the R8,” Oliver Hoffmann told us. “And although it is not necessarily something our customers have been calling for, we feel as engineers we must do it, to make our cars as efficient as possible.”

For an alternative review of the latest Audi Q5 visit our sister site carbuyer.co.uk

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