This new naming system will debut with the new combustion engine version Audi A6, which will be revealed on March 4th. You can expect Audi A6 models to have names like A6 Avant TFSI or A6 Sedan E-tron. (Current models will not be renamed.)

Here’s what it means for the general public: some Audi EVs will share a name with their gas or diesel counterparts, but they’ll still maintain the “E-Tron” name for EVs and TDI for diesel. For example, the gas-powered Audi Q8 and the all-electric Audi Q8 E-Tron will exist under the same model name.

The change comes just two years after Audi introduced distinct names for electric and internal combustion vehicles.

Exactly how Audi would apply the Sportback name varied, though: the A7 was similar in concept to the A5 Sportback, with its coupe-like roof over a four-door body, whereas the A3 Sportback is a vaguely wagon-esque hatch rather than a 'four-door coupe', and it retained the A3 name. It could hardly take the A4 name, after all.

A month before its reveal, the model that was to be the A7 will be called an A6 after all, as Audi overhauls its naming structure... again.

Audi is backtracking just two years after introducing a new naming strategy that saw even numbers applied to EVs and odd numbers to gas cars.

Switching all ICE cars to odd numbers and reserving evens for EVs was meant to help customers distinguish between powertrains

In March 2023 Audi announced plans for a new naming scheme to better differentiate gas cars from electric vehicles. EVs were supposed to use even numbers, while models with combustion engines were set to use odd numbers.