AUDI CHANGING HOW IT NAMES ITS VEHICLES—AGAIN

• Audi is making every product in its portfolio follow a more consistent naming system.
• Models will be split down the A and Q lines, which distinguish between the low-floor and high-floor vehicles, respectively.
• According to Audi, this allows for all models to carry the same naming conventions regardless of powertrain and then differentiate the body’s style after the foundational name of the vehicle.

If you thought Audi’s alphanumeric naming system was getting too murky, you weren’t alone. Audi agrees. The company is shaking up how it’s naming its cars going forward and trying to streamline its naming conventions to make life easier on customers. While it’s still using its long-running alphanumeric system, the new system will consolidate models into their respective shells with powertrain and body features coming after the name.

If that’s still confusing, or you’re not seeing a major difference, that’s fine, this is as confusing as it was the last time Audi changed up their alphanumeric strategy a couple of years ago. The last time Audi switched up its strategy, it differentiated the internal combustion vehicles and battery-electric vehicles by their numbers. Internal combustion vehicles saw odd numbers, with battery-electric vehicles netting evens.

Now, there were some outliers, namely on the gasoline-burning Q8 variants, and the Audi e-tron GT. That said, this is mostly looking at the more common, higher-volume models like the A5 and the upcoming A6. That upcoming A6 sedan will feature an internal combustion engine. According to Audi, this A6 isn’t an idiosyncrasy, and the rest of the lineup will use one or more letters and a number. After the alphanumeric name, Audi will use another name or naming convention to make it clear what’s powering the car or SUV, and what body style it might have.

Even though the company is focusing on its A and Q models, this change will also affect the performance-oriented S and RS models. Also, it shouldn’t be a huge surprise that models like the e-tron GT won’t fall into this naming shakeup.

If you’re wondering why Audi is changing up its naming conventions after such a short stint with the previous, it’s simple: It was confusing. “This decision is the result of intensive discussions and also follows the wishes of our customers as well as feedback from our international dealers,” says Marco Schubert, member of the board of management for sales and marketing at Audi AG.

Hopefully, these changes can clear up some confusion about Audi’s various models to would-be customers, but they’re still going to have to memorize the alphanumeric structure.

Do you think this change is smart? Tell us your thoughts below.

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2025-02-03T20:28:11Z