Detroit '09: 2009 Audi Sportback Concept

Audi is unveiling the Sportback concept show car at the 2009 North American International Automobile Show in Detroit and offers tons of new features. With systematic refinements to the brand’s characteristic design elements, the five-door model offers a glimpse at the Audi's future design vocabulary. With its pronounced coupé-like silhouette and large rear hatch, the vehicle is boldly progressive for the luxury class.

The technology of the Audi Sportback concept is markedly futuristic. Power is provided by the world’s cleanest diesel technology: the 3.0-liter, V6 TDI clean diesel almost completely eliminates nitrogen oxides. This engine already meets the emissions limits of all 50 U.S. states and the EU6 standard scheduled to take effect in 2014. And numerous measures to ensure top efficiency mean that the Audi Sportback concept is expected to achieve impressive fuel consumption figures of 39.87 mpg. As in the U.S. version of the Audi Q7 3.0 TDI, the V6 also produces 225 horsepower and 405.66 lb-ft of torque in the Audi Sportback concept. Power is transferred to the wheels via Audi’s most modern transmission: the new 7-speed tiptronic. The quattro permanent all-wheel-drive system ensures that the torque generated by the powerful TDI is also converted effectively into propulsion and dynamism under any conditions. Weighing just 13,968.32 lbs. and with a drag coefficient of 0.30, the coupe will accelerate from 0 – 62.14 mph in less than seven seconds and reach a top speed of 152.24 mph.

The 7-speed S tronic transmission is a very efficient unit with a wide spread of gear ratios. For the first time, it has been equipped with transmission oil heating, so that it reaches its intended operating temperature much earlier and therefore has a lower level of internal friction. And when it is on the move, tires optimized for low roll resistance cut fuel consumption significantly without incurring any disadvantages in the performance area.

Since its introduction in 2004, the concept of the Sportback has established itself in the compact class. The success of the A3 Sportback has exceeded even the expectations of its makers – far more customers choose the four-door model with the large rear hatch than its three-door sibling. The design of the Audi Sportback concept is characterized by an almost monolithic clarity and a vast reduction of the number of lines. The roof, shoulder and sill lines appear to have been drawn with a single stroke. The window strip of the coupé with its four frameless doors was kept pronouncedly flat. Viewed from the side, the softly contoured wheel wells over the 10-spoke, 21-inch wheels reinforce the impression of the precisely defined surfaces of the body.

2009 Audi Sportback Concept Wallpaper