Article｜Joey

When I accelerated Q5 e-tron at a bend in the mountain road, my friend sitting in the back seat exclaimed “It doesn’t even tilt”? Obviously, this shows that the mechanical quality of this Q5 e-tron has won his favor. However, merely mechanical quality seems far from enough to judge a car like Q5 e-tron.

I have experienced this car, which was popularized by looks and luxury brand B-SUVs at that time. At that time, as the best-selling product of the luxury brand B-SUV, its sales volume and difficulty in getting a car were far beyond GLC and X3.

But now the problem facing it is that times have changed. Cars that are easy to sell in the era of fuel vehicles are probably no longer suitable for the future era. Therefore, although GLC and X3 still sell well, EQC and iX3 are coming, that is, what we often call oil-to-electric.

Whether it can sell well or not is another matter, but there must be such a product as the shadow of electrification. This is also the logic behind the launch of Q5 e-tron, which is to supplement and expand the vehicle models, so as not to let people who want to buy electric cars turn to other brands.

This is the logic, but it seems not entirely applicable to Q5 e-tron. Because from many aspects, this is a completely different Q5.

There is performance, but more importantly, comfort

First of all, it should be said that Q5 e-tron, which looks more angular and futuristic, is not the electrified version of Q5L, but a relatively independent electric vehicle product that can bring strong driving quality feelings about German cars, derived from the MEB platform.Take the 50 e-tron quattro as an example. This car is equipped with front and rear dual motors, which offers four-wheel drive. With a maximum power output of 225kW, it has already surpassed most of the mainstream 2.0T high-performance four-cylinder engines currently available.

On the one hand, the Audi Q5 e-tron’s streamlined body design brings a drag coefficient of 0.29Cd. On the other hand, the better driving experience comes from the strong low-end torque output of the vehicle. Therefore, this car has an excellent speed performance of 0-100km/h acceleration in just 6.7 seconds.

During the actual driving process, the power output is also prompt and abundant, which is naturally characteristic of electric motors. In addition, it also depends on the coordination between the body structure and tuning. The Q5 e-tron currently uses a front MacPherson and rear multi-link suspension structure. On the premise of ensuring comfort, this vehicle is also biased towards stronger support.

At the same time, the four-wheel drive attribute of the dual motor also allows Audi’s proud quattro all-wheel-drive technology to be retained in the era of electric cars. With the latest electric quattro technology, Q5 e-tron only needs 30 milliseconds to distribute power. This not only provides the vehicle with more precise steering on urban roads and mountain highways, but also greatly improves its passing performance on wet, slippery and muddy roads during rainy or snowy weather.

It can be seen that in most cases, the Q5 e-tron balances the driving experience of the product, but the riding experience still leans towards comfort. This is because the positioning of mid-to-large size SUVs is that they can adapt to home use as well as executive use. That is to say, comfort is actually the first priority.

Therefore, this vehicle with a length of less than 4.9 meters has a wheelbase of more than 2.965 meters. At the same time, the seat layout of the entire vehicle adopts the six-seat and seven-seat layout, and the space of the last row of seats is even larger than I imagined. When folded down, it can provide 1825L of storage space (1773L for the seven-seat version), which basically covers all the storage scenes needed in daily life. Therefore, the comfort of the space riding experience is not a problem.

Combined with the 50 acoustic noise optimizations claimed by SAIC Audi, and the use of acoustic interlayer glass on all front side windows of the entire series. Therefore, firstly, there is no roaring noise from the engine, and secondly, even the tire noise that is only left in the electric car can be blocked to a large extent. As long as you drive smoothly enough, falling asleep in the car is basically a regular operation.

Of course, there are still some small details in the car that will catch you off guard. For example, only one side of the second-row seat near the middle aisle has an armrest, and the other hand can only be placed on the control area of ​​the door panel. On the one hand, this makes people feel that the design is not very symmetrical; on the other hand, the distance between the placement of the two hands is not even.

In addition, it seems that there is a cup holder on the rear door panel, but it is actually a hollow position as a handle. If you subconsciously put items in this area, it will directly slide into the storage space under the car door, which is a product point that needs to be adapted to.

Overall, comfort is the first thing that Q5 e-tron must achieve, and it seems that they have done a good job so far.

## The vision of the future is the key selling point

I have to say that unlike Mercedes-Benz and BMW products that all come from a single source, currently Audi’s trend is to continuously launch products through SAIC Audi and FAW Audi. Their individual product lines are indeed complementary, but more often than not, there are significant differences in their positioning.

Therefore, both cooperation and competition seem to be the current situation they face when challenged by the outside world, and it is also the most beneficial relationship for the Audi brand. Understanding this relationship, we can know that the competitors of Q5 e-tron may even include the fuel version of Q5L itself.

How was this conclusion drawn? Simply put, it is to completely cover the blank space for differentiation. For example, larger product positioning, longer size, and richer six or seven-seat interior space settings are aimed not at filling the blank space, but forming a direction for differentiated competition.

And these differences, you don’t need to spend more money, or even spend less money (because these two cars overlap in almost the same price range) to quickly own. For SAIC Audi, they only want to leave the users with the choice of energy form regarding the Q5.

The more distinctive the internal design of a vehicle, the better it fits with the concept of the Roadjet (land aircraft) earlier proposed by SAIC Audi. For example, in terms of the car front design, sharper design lines, advanced high-definition screen area design concept (latest generation of Audi design), combined with ambient lighting, HUD head-up display, unique steering wheel, specially designed central control area, can quickly create the feeling of a future aircraft in the car.

Obviously, this is enough characteristic to compete with EQC and iX3, both B and B+ level models, within the framework of BBA. After all, when it comes to new cars, new platforms and clearly positioned products, they are more likely to meet people’s needs than simple oil-to-electricity conversion or pioneering attempts. After all, everyone wants something different.

In short, for Q5 e-tron, it is a product without any baggage. Different platforms and clear positioning indicate that SAIC Audi is clear about what they want when building Q5 e-tron.

Internally, it can form a benign cooperative and competitive relationship with the internal combustion engine version of Q5L. To co-create the future, there will be both winners and losers (but given the irreversible trend of electrification, Q5 e-tron seems to have greater advantages). Externally, the fragmented Audi electric product system is lagging behind in BBA. If Q5 e-tron can serve as a core pivot to re-connect the sequence of Audi’s electric vehicle group, it is actually a good thing.

This is not only what SAIC Audi wants to see, but also what the Audi brand is happy to see.

So, the real question now is whether the Q5 e-tron can bring better product sales. After all, no matter how good the idea is, it still needs the nod from the market.

This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.