Audi’s Prologue Coupe Hatches An Avant Concept

The Prologue Avant Concept from Audi gives us an idea of how the brand’s new styling language can be applied on a more practical five-door body that blurs the lines between hatchbacks and estates. Mercedes would call this body style a Shooting Brake, in case you were wondering.

To be revealed at next week’s Geneva Motor Show, the Prologue Avant study is a follow up to last year’s Prologue Coupe from the LA Motor Show, with both models featuring the same design and similar footprint.

Speaking of dimensions, at 5,110mm (201.2 in) long, 1,970mm (77.6 in) wide and 1,400mm (55.1 in) tall, the Prologue Avant is only a tad longer (10mm or 0.4 in), wider (20mm or 0.8 in) and taller (10mm or 0.4 in) than the Coupe, with which it shares a 2,990mm (117.8 in) wheelbase.

“With our show car for Geneva, we now translate the design language of the Audi prologue into a new, dynamic and stretched form. We are merging it with a concept of high variability”, said Audi Board Member Ulrich Hackenberg.

Inside, the Avant has individual seats for four passengers and sports a modern dashboard design that does away with button-clutter featuring a new control concept with three touch displays.

Under the sheetmetal, Audi continues to experiment with different powertrains for the Prologue series. Whereas the LA show car had a 605PS (597hp) 4.0-liter turbo V8 and the following updated grey-colored version of the coupe a 677PS (668hp) hybrid drivetrain combining the same V8 turbo with an electric motor, the Avant borrows the plug‑in hybrid drive from the Q7 e‑tron quattro.

This production unit pairs a 3.0-liter turbocharged V6 TDI diesel to an electric motor to produce a system output of 455PS (449hp) allowing the Avant Concept to sprint to 100km/h (62mph) in 5.1 seconds.

According to the NEDC standard for plug-in hybrid vehicles, the Prologue Avant consumers 1.6 l/100km (147.0 US mpg) corresponding to 43g/km of CO2. Audi says the lithium-ion battery pack in the rear offers a pure electric driving range of 54 kilometers or about 34 miles.

Elsewhere, the chassis features an air suspension with adaptive dampers and Audi’s dynamic all‑wheel‑drive steering system.