The next-gen Audi A4, codenamed B9 and due in 2014, will be the first model from Ingolstadt to adapt Audi’s Le Mans winning e-tron quattro hybrid technology for the road, Car magazine reports.
So, rather than tricky diffs and fancy coupling devices, the new A4 will drive the front wheels through a conventional internal combustion engine (petrol or diesel), while powering the rear wheels with a pair of electric motors.
The B9 will ride on a new architecture too. Like the smaller MQB platform, the MLB matrix is expected to help the A4 shed around 100kg from finished production models compared to the current B8 range. That means entry-level A4s should tip the scales at around 1330kg.
[Source: Car | Rendering: Christian Schulte]