SPY PICS: Audi Q5 spotted again

Audi's upcoming next-generation Q5 will be new underneath, but could be hard to pick from the current model for anyone other than Audi identification experts.

Since the last occasion spy photographers caught the new Q5 testing, Audi has removed camouflage to reveal narrower headlights and a frontal styling treatment that owes more to the smaller Q3 than the first-generation Q5. But with most of the camo in place the new Q5 could be easily mistaken for its predecessor, despite being based on the MLB platform that's also shared with the new A4.

Migration to the new platform is a major factor in the Q5's anticipated weight reduction of around 100kg. Four-cylinder engines will be the mainstays of the new Q5 range, along with V6 powerplants. Like the larger Q7, the Q5 will be offered in plug-in hybrid form. The electric-only range for the plug-in is expected to be around 50km, and it's speculated that the 2.0 TDI (diesel four-cylinder) model will achieve a combined-cycle fuel consumption figure of 3.9L/100km.

Audi is rumoured to have scheduled the Q5's global launch for around the middle of this year.