Yahoo Autos Electric Audi A4 E-Tron, new A5 Sportback photos show next-gen models testing in California
BAKER, Calif. — Sometimes you're just in the right place at the right time. While recharging at the Electrify America station in Baker, Calif, we came upon a camouflaged car sitting by itself. A quick glance at the front revealed the outline of Audi's logo. Judging by its size and its hatchbacked trunk, it sure seemed like it was the next-generation Audi A5 Sportback.
Soon, it was joined by a few production Audis and then two more camouflaged future vehicles, which unlike the future A5, were in need of charging: a Q6 E-Tron, which we've already previewed, and the future Audi A4 E-Tron. It too had a hatchback, so it's possible that this was the A4 E-Tron Sportback and that there will also be a regular A4 E-Tron sedan. It's important to note here that we know that Audi's future naming convention will consist of even numbers representing gasoline powered cars and odd numbers being E-Tron electric vehicles.
Although the A4 E-Tron and A5 Sportback seemed to be roughly the same size, there are differences between power source. The E-Tron has the same split front lighting arrangement as the Q6 E-Tron has, indicating that this will be a point of visual differentiation for future E-Tron models. The A4 also has a higher, more pronounced "Bangle Butt" trunk lid for lack of a better term, but there's definitely a resemblance to the infamous turn-of-the-century BMW 7 Series' trunk lid (as well as the contemporary 6 Series). Speaking of BMWs, Audi had a BMW i5 M60i along with them, possibly for benchmarking purposes.
