China’s AUDI E5 Sportback Debuts – SAIC-Based EV Wagon with 773 KM of Range

The China-only AUDI E5 Sportback debuts as an SAIC-based EV wagon with up to 773 km of EV range.

China’s AUDI marque has just launched its new EV wagon, known as the AUDI E5 Sportback. Not to be confused with Europe’s famed Four Rings marque, this EV wagon is co-developed between Audi and SAIC Motor specifically to tackle the Chinese market.

The E5 Sportback is available in four variants with both RWD and AWD configurations, with prices ranging from CNY 235,000 to CNY 319,900 (RM138,237– RM188,179). All of them underpin the same Advanced Digitised Platform (ADP) with an 800-volt architecture jointly developed by Audi and SAIC Motor, which can provide up to 370 km of travel range from a 10-minute charge.

The entry-level Pioneer RWD model boasts a 220 kW-rated (295 hp) motor while being juiced by a 76-kWh LFP battery pack for up to 618 km of CLTC range. Should you need more range, there’s also the Pioneer Plus variant, which gets a peppier 300 kW (402 hp) motor and a larger 100-kWh battery to enable 773 km of CLTC range—the most in the entire lineup.

For maximum performance, there’s the top-spec Flagship Quattro, which gets a dual-motor AWD setup rated at up to 579 kW (776 hp), allowing for a quick century sprint time of only 3.4 seconds. Using the same 100-kWh battery as the Pioneer Plus, the Flagship Quattro also gets a decent CLTC range of 647 km.

In terms of design, the E5 Sportback bears no resemblance to any Audi EVs out there, with the exception being its sleek estate bodystyle inspired by the European Audi wagons. Some key design highlights include slim LED headlights, an illuminated front grille with a lit-up AUDI badge at the centre, rectangular LED taillight strips, 20-inch alloy wheels, and many more.

Dimension-wise, the E5 Sportback measures 4,881 mm long, 1,960 mm wide, 1,479 mm tall, and has a wheelbase of 2,950 mm.

Keen eyes will notice that the E5 Sportback sports a roof-mounted LiDAR sensor at the front, which works in tandem with 27 sensors, three millimeter-wave radars, 12 ultrasonic sensors, and 11 cameras for its Momenta ADAS suite. Powered by the Nvidia Orin X chip, this ADAS suite promises a high degree of autonomous driving capabilities, possibly going beyond Level 2 autopilot.

On-board, the AUDI E5 Sportback gets a pretty futuristic cabin setup laced with tons of tech amenities and creature comforts. The headline-grabbing piece of equipment is the cabin-wide 59-inch LED screen powered by AUDI OS with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8925 chip, which features an AI assistant called Doubao developed by TikTok’s ByteDance.

Pre-sales for the all-new AUDI E5 Sportback already commenced in China, with delivery set to follow suit later this year. Production will take place at SAIC-Volkswagen’s assembly plant in Shanghai. And given the whole AUDI marque is exclusively for the Chinese market, we won’t likely see this sleek EV wagon heading its way to other overseas markets.