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Audi Australia has thrown its weight behind diesel engine expertise for the foreseeable future, citing “vital volumes” of its TDI fashions in particular automobile segments.
Talking with CarExpert on the launch of the brand new Q5 SUV, product supervisor for Audi Australia Peter Strudwicke stated there’s nonetheless loads of native demand for turbo-diesel fashions regionally, significantly for SUV fashions just like the Q5.
“We nonetheless do vital volumes of diesel,” Mr Strudwicke stated.
“You understand, purchaser varieties range significantly as you get out to regional sellers as properly – they have a tendency to all the time ask questions on diesel.
“I don’t assume persons are frightened of diesel [in the Q5’s] phase… wanting again beforehand, simply the four-cylinder diesel accounted for 25 per cent [of sales]. That’s a very vital quantity of of quantity for a big-volume automobile, so we couldn’t say no to a diesel – we might have probably been dropping clients.”
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Above: 2026 Audi SQ5 + Q5
“And despite the fact that the SQ5 has moved to a really environment friendly petrol, as a diesel it did a minimum of in addition to it did as a petroleum after we had each – they usually each did extraordinarily properly,” Mr Strudwicke added.
Head of product at Audi Australia Matthew Dale echoed this sentiment, saying the brand new 48V MHEV plus system – which permits “restricted” EV driving at low speeds like when crawling in visitors or parking – may see diesel turn out to be extra interesting to even metropolis and suburban clients that may usually go for one of many firm’s petrol SUVs.
“We did the regional vendor assembly in Victoria [recently], and simply being an hour out of Melbourne CBD, we requested questions round how the take charges go by way of blended percentages [of petrol v diesel],” Mr Dale stated.
“An hour out of Melbourne CBD? Diesel. However you then get CBD vendor suggestions that almost all of their buyer base is petrol.
“The place we do see alternative is with MHEV plus within the new automobile, having the diesel powertrain that’s already tremendous environment friendly… permits seamless mobility between electrification at low speeds and diesel effectivity at greater speeds – that actually highlights how far the diesel idea has are available in our automobiles.
Mr Dale was additionally fast to notice the brand new Q5 TDI’s efficiency in official gasoline checks, the place it has achieved 5.4L/100km throughout city, further city and mixed check cycles, largely due to the MHEV plus system.
Above: Audi Q5 2.0 TDI 150kW engine
Past the Q5 line, Audi’s TDI household of diesel engines stays a powerful vendor within the bigger Q7 and Q8 lineups, and was beforehand a principal fixture within the A8 limousine vary regionally earlier than it was discontinued in 2024.
Audi Australia has moved away from diesel in smaller segments, nonetheless, as a result of slowing demand on the decrease finish of the market. Working example are the Q2 and Q3 SUVs, which each provided diesel engines up till not that way back. Equally, the A3, A4, A5 and A6 have all provided TDI fashions in latest historical past.
These traits are largely in keeping with the general market, too. Diesel gross sales had been up 8.0 per cent in July due to sturdy dual-cab ute and enormous SUV gross sales, although have been in gradual, regular decline total for quite a few years. Yr to this point in 2025, diesel gross sales are down by 2.7 per cent.
The Mercedes-Benz GLC and Volvo XC60, each rivals to the Q5, have moved away from diesel altogether in Australia, whereas the BMW X3 solely gives a six-cylinder diesel regionally in its newest era.
On the mainstream finish of the mid-size SUV phase, solely the Kia Sportage has actually caught with diesel – and Kia reviews sturdy gross sales as well.
MORE: Discover the Audi Q5 showroom
