Audi SQ5 diesel to return
Petrol SQ5 on the way out and Q5 EV also a no-go for Australia – but popular diesel SQ5 will returnIt’s been a long time between drinks – more than three years – but Aussie customers will soon be able to resume their love affair with the butch V6 diesel-powered Audi SQ5 TDI.
After being axed from the range in July 2017 and replaced by the V6 petrol-equipped SQ5 (260kW/500Nm), the 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6-powered Audi SQ5 TDI (255kW/700Nm) will return.
“We’re bringing it back for good reason,” said Audi Australia corporate communications manager Shaun Cleary.
With significantly more torque, a longer cruising range and better towing capability than the petrol version, the new Audi SQ5 diesel will arrive in Aussie showrooms from around September.
“SQ5 has proven very popular throughout its entire lifetime, since its launch as a V6 diesel in 2013, then in petrol form in July 2017,” explained Cleary.
“However, there are some customers who would prefer to have the diesel in the current model, so given that position we’re working to bring that model to Australia.”
When the SQ5 diesel returns in a few months, it will go virtually unchallenged in the segment.
The segment-leading Mercedes-Benz GLC doesn’t offer diesel power any more and the $88,900 BMW X3 30d (195kW/620Nm) doesn't muster enough mumbo to match the muscled-up diesel SQ5.
Red hot Audi RS Q5 coming
There is the BMW X3-based $109,900 Alpina XD3 (245kW/700Nm) but it’s a niche vehicle and is more expensive than the SQ5's expected $101,500 price point.
The SQ5 has long been a crucial member of the popular Audi Q5 family, the diesel version regularly accounting for up to 30 per cent of sales of the original Q5 from its launch in 2013 to its conclusion in early 2017.
The more recent petrol version, based on the second-generation Q5 revealed in 2016, has also proved popular with around 25 per cent of Q5 buyers opting for the $100,000-plus high-performance SUV.
When the turbo-diesel V6-powered Audi SQ5 arrives in Australia it will be sold alongside the turbo-petrol V6 Audi SQ5, but it remains to be seen how long the twins remains together.
The facelifted 2021 Audi Q5 will bring loads of new tech features when it arrives in Australia from February next year and it will be joined by the new-look SQ5 roughly six months later after that -- but it could be a diesel-only proposition.
During the virtual global reveal of the facelifted 2021 Audi Q5 in Germany this week, an Audi engineer told Australian journalists the facelifted Audi SQ5 would be sold “only as a diesel”.
Australia will also miss out on the athletic and efficient plug-in hybrid Audi Q5 55 TFSIe (270kW/500Nm) and don’t expect a BMW iX3-rivalling EV from Audi any time soon either.
“What we can say is that with a plug-in hybrid version, we’ll stick to that,” said Michael Crusius, spokesman for Audi’s mid-size SUV product range in Germany.
“A pure EV model is not in the schedule,” he added, which means the battery-powered 225kW Audi Q4 e-tron will be the mid-size electric SUV flagbearer for the German brand.
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
