It might look a lot like the old one, but Audi's new A7 Sportback does have a few party tricks up its sleeve.
Revealed earlier today, the A7 channels a lot of the new A5's visual anger. This comes through a sharper, more angular front fascia, the creased bonnet, and the incredibly detailed x-ray specs headlights that feature 12 lighting "segments" intended to "evoke associations with the binary digits 0 and 1". That's what Audi said, anyway, in the company's release.
Lights are also the big talking point at the rear, with an enormous red LED spanning the width of the car. An integrated spoiler sits atop the deck lid; programmed to extend automatically at 120km/h.
That brings us to numbers. The A7's launch Sportback model will go from 0–100km/h in 5.3 seconds thanks to a turbocharged 3.0-litre TFSI V6, that pumps 250kW of power and 500Nm of torque to all four wheels. A seven-speed S tronic transmission keeps it all in check, though it's worth noting that more engine options are most likely on the way including (reportedly) other four and six-cylinder variants. Not to mention S and RS models, hopefully...
This is all pretty tame stuff so far, but we haven't arrived at the main event.
One of the real kickers of the new A7 is the suite of driver assistance systems — which includes 'Audi AI'. As the name suggests, Audi AI is a system based in autonomy.
Cameras and sensors on and in the car work together to make the car self-driving beyond the level of any of the manufacturer's current range (to the end that they won't need to continuously check up on how the car's doing like they would in, say, a current Tesla). In industry speak, this makes the new A7 Level 3 autonomous.
This technology combined with what looks, once again, to be a market-leading interior set-up, will surely make the A7's cabin an incredible place to sit.
It's not yet known when the four-ringed cruiser will land in New Zealand, or indeed what price it will carry. But, those in the UK are expected to get their first batch in the second quarter of 2018.
