Audi tonight unveiled its new A7 Sportback, which if you have a strong grasp of maths and logic you’ll no doubt have worked out will sit in the small numerical gap between the A6 and the A8 in the Audi range. It looks like a larger, but also slightly sleeker, A5 Sportback. Not exactly exciting but certainly not offensive either (although the metallic brown launch colour is not terribly attractive).

It will be available in the UK in January with four different engines – two petrol and two diesel. The breakdown, including prices, is as follows:

Petrol

3.0-litre Six-cylinder turbo, quattro, S Tronic, 296bhp, 0-62mph 5.6sec, £47,140

2.8-litre six-cylinder, quattro, S Tronic, 201bhp, 0-62mph 8.6sec, £44,280 

Diesel

3.0-litre TDI, quattro, S tronic, 242bhp, 0-62mph 6.5sec, £46,970

3.0-litre TDI, fwd, 201bhp, 0-62mph 8.1sec, £42,295 

The equipment level in all A7s will be very high, with Sat-nav, Bluetooth, leather, electric seats, cruise control, 18in alloys, electric tailgates and a DAB radio coming as standard. Options include a head up display and night vision. It’s also worth mentioning that the sat nav’s mapping uses Google Earth and looks very cool.

It will also be a very green car, with all the CO2 ratings coming under 190g/km, and the 201bhp diesel emitting just 139g/km. Some of this has been thanks to the use of Audis favourite material, aluminium, for the doors, bonnet and boot. This helps to keep the weight down to a reasonable 1770kg for the quattro diesel (for comparison a Jaguar XF weighs in at 1820kg and a Mercedes CLS at 1850kg).

From a driving perspective, the most crucial announcement is that the power steering is electro-mechanical (as opposed to electro-hydraulic) something not seen on any Audi larger than an A3 before. When asked if there was an S7 in the pipeline an Audi Spokesman said ‘Anything’s possible’ which could mean yes or no, and we’re not entirely sure if we should be hankering after a quick A7 anyway. 

The launch was held in Munich’s Museum of Modern Art and as well as my less professional photos of the A7, I’ve attached the odd photo from the museum, including an intriguing comparison…

There is also now a brief video of the launch.

Click here for pictures and details of the Audi A7