AUDI launches E5 Sportback in China starting at $33,180, securing 10,153 orders within 30 minutes

The AUDI E5 Sportback rivals the Nio ET5 Touring in size and boasts a range of up to 773 km.The E5 Sportback offers single-motor and dual-motor options, and can accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in as little as 3.4 seconds.(AUDI E5 Sportback. Image credit: SAIC-Audi)AUDI, a new brand jointly launched by Volkswagen's premium car brand Audi and SAIC Motor, rolled out its first model, the E5 Sportback, whose competitive pricing drove strong initial performance.The E5 Sportback was officially launched at an event last night with a starting price of RMB 235,900 ($33,180), the same as its pre-sales starting price.Shortly after the launch event concluded, SAIC Audi announced on Weibo that the model received 10,153 orders within the first 30 minutes. Join CnEVPost on Telegram or Google News The E5 Sportback is a mid-size sedan with a touring-style design, built on the Advanced Digitized Platform developed through Audi's collaboration with SAIC.Its dimensions are 4,881 mm in length, 1,960 mm in width, and 1,479 mm in height, with a wheelbase of 2,950 mm.These dimensions are similar with the Nio ET5 Touring, which measures 4,790 mm in length, 1,960 mm in width, and 1,499 mm in height, with a wheelbase of 2,888 mm.AUDI offers four trim levels for the E5 Sportback, priced starting at RMB 235,900, RMB 269,900, RMB 269,900, and RMB 319,900 respectively.The five-seat sedan is available in rear-wheel drive and all-wheel drive configurations. The rear-wheel-drive variant offers two motor options: 220 kW (295 hp) and 300 kW, accelerating from 0 to 100 km/h in 6.1 seconds and 5 seconds respectively.The dual-motor variant also provides two options: 386 kW and 579 kW, achieving 0-100 km/h in 3.9 seconds and 3.4 seconds.It is equipped with either a 76.2-kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery pack or 83.3-kWh and 100-kWh ternary lithium battery packs, offering CLTC ranges of 618 km, 623 km, 647 km, and 773 km.AUDI said the E5 Sportback can add 370 km of range with a 10-minute charge.The E5 Sportback features a roof-mounted LiDAR and utilizes an End-to-end Big Model (EBM) driver assistance solution from Chinese startup Momenta.The vehicle includes an AI-powered virtual assistant controllable via touch or voice, capable of expressing emotions through human-machine interaction.Audi and SAIC jointly launched the new AUDI brand in China on November 8, 2024, unveiling its first concept car, the E concept.The automaker debuted a concept car named E concept at the time, stating it was 95 percent close to production readiness. The E5 Sportback is based on this concept vehicle.($1 = RMB 7.1088) Huawei-backed Stelato launches S9T wagon, securing 5,000 orders within 1st hour The S9T is Stelato's second model following the S9 sedan, with a starting price of RMB 309,800 ($43,580).