Latest news with #A5Sportback
USA Today
4 days ago
- Automotive
- USA Today
Some popular car models are going away. See which models are being discontinued by 2026.
It's getting harder to find new sedans. The Chevrolet Malibu, Subaru Legacy and Volvo S90 are among a handful of vehicles that won't return for the 2026 model year. Their departure comes as automakers adjust their portfolios to meet shifting demands among U.S. drivers ‒ namely, increased interest in SUVs and electric vehicles. Car sales accounted for just 19% of the market between January and October 2024, according to car shopping site Edmunds. SUVs, in comparison, made up 58%. "The downfall of sedans continues" even though they are often more affordable than larger counterparts, said Justin Fischer, media specialist at online car marketplace CarEdge. "We're seeing lots of affordable sedans going away, so we expect to see the average selling price of new cars in America increase in 2026 because of that alone." Here's a roundup of models that are hitting the end of the road in 2025. Audi A4 Audi's A4 sedan is on its way out, as previously reported by USA TODAY. The sedan will be replaced by the new A5 Sportback as part of Audi's efforts to shift all combustion-engine cars to odd-numbered model names and all even-numbered cars to electric models, said spokesperson Mark Dahncke. The new A5 Sportback went on sale in June, and a RS 5 high-performance model is expected "in the near future," Dahncke said. Cadillac XT6, XT4 Cadillac is ending production of the XT6, a three-row SUV, toward the end of 2025. The XT6's target demographic was households with an annual income of at least $200,000, according to the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network. Production of the gas-powered SUV at parent company General Motors' Spring Hill Assembly plant in Tennessee is set to be replaced by the Vistiq, a new all-electric SUV, according to the Free Press. As for the XT4, production of the small SUV at GM's Fairfax assembly plant in Kansas City, Kansas, ended in January. BMW XM base BMW is axing half of its XM portfolio. The automaker in June said it would offer just one XM SUV model, the XM Label, and scrap the XM base design for model year 2026. The XM Label is the most powerful road vehicle produced by BMW M, a subsidiary of BMW focused on high-performance vehicles, with a total system output of 738 horsepower. The XM base, by comparison, offers up to 644 horsepower. Chevrolet Malibu General Motors wrapped up production of the Chevrolet Malibu, a midsize sedan, in late 2024, making 2025 the last model year for the nameplate. The discontinuation comes as GM prepares its Fairfax assembly plant to produce Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles and the gas-powered Chevrolet Equinox. In June, the company said the plant is on track to begin building the Bolt by the end of 2025 and the Equinox beginning in mid-2027. How often should you inspect brakes? 5 costly mistakes to avoid Infiniti QX50, QX55 The QX50 compact luxury SUV and QX55 luxury crossover coupe will no longer be available in the Americas after the 2025 model year, spokesperson Ashli Bobo said. Bobo noted that the brand offers a 'refreshed' QX60 luxury crossover SUV and recently introduced the QX80 Sport, another luxury SUV. Infiniti is also set to unveil two new nameplates: the QX65 crossover coupe and Vision QXe electric SUV. Lexus LC Hybrid Coupe, RC and RC F Lexus earlier this year announced that the brand would say goodbye to the RC and RC F sports cars after the 2025 model year. The decision comes after a decade on the market and more than 90,000 units sold, according to a January news release. Lexus is also dropping the LC Hybrid Coupe in the U.S. market for the 2026 model year. Parent company Toyota's June sales report shows just 7 LC Hybrids were sold in the first six months of 2025, compared to 790 gas LCs. Mercedes-Benz EQB The EQB, an all-electric compact SUV, will not be offered in the United States or Canada after model year 2025. The company remains 'fully committed to electrification," said spokesperson Andrew Brudnicki, who noted the new all-electric CLA sedan is set to arrive at U.S. dealerships later this year. Porsche 718 Boxster and 718 Cayman Porsche confirmed the two 718 sports cars will end production this year. The gas-powered Macan, a compact SUV, is set to end sometime in 2026. Subaru Legacy Production of the Subaru Legacy wrapped up this spring, according to a news release from Subaru. The automaker sold more than 1.3 million units spanning six generations in the United States since the sedan's 1989 debut. In an April statement, Subaru said the discontinuation 'reflects market shifts from passenger cars to SUVs and crossovers and Subaru's transition to electrified and fully electric vehicles." The company previously announced plans to produce eight electric vehicle models by 2028. Volvo S60, S90, EC40 Sales of the S60, a midsize luxury sedan, and the S90, a large luxury sedan, ended in the United States with the conclusion of the 2025 model year. Volvo spokesperson Thomas Schultz said the brand is axing the models as it continues to evaluate its portfolio 'to align with customer needs as well as sales demand,' noting that the market for sedans has been waning. Tariffs also played a role in the decision to end S90 sales in the United States, Schultz said. Volvo ended production of the S60 at its South Carolina plant in 2024 after five years of production, turning its attention to building the EX90 electric SUV and XC60 SUV. The automaker also stopped importing the EC40 electric SUV, Schultz said.
Car and Driver
18-06-2025
- Automotive
- Car and Driver
2025 Audi A5 Sedan First Drive Review: Simplified Evolution
The Audi A4 is no more, and in its place is a new sedan-esque five-door named simply A5. You can think of it as the spiritual successor to the A5 Sportback, because that's precisely what it is, just without the Sportback appellation, as there's no A4 sedan from which to differentiate it. We always preferred the looks and added liftback practicality of the A5 Sportback anyway, so no big loss. This combined effort makes sense given the rapid expansion in nameplates as Audi fills out the electric half of its portfolio. Audi's compact car hasn't gone e-tron yet, however. This latest A5 and its S5 performance partner are built on what may be the brand's final internal-combustion architecture, dubbed Premium Platform Combustion. In addition to being bigger than the outgoing A5 Sportback in every dimension, this new A5 has new looks wrapped around updated tech and a familiar yet slightly improved powertrain. View Exterior Photos Audi An A5 That Looks Kind of Like an A4 In profile, the A5 looks like the average between a sedan and a Sportback—call it an A4.5—as it's not obvious that its raked rear glass is attached to a hatch instead of terminating ahead of a traditional sedan trunk. Its surfaces appear a little more chiseled than those of the old A4 and A5, and flush door-release pockets add to the muscular sleekness. Audi's busy lighting department came up with available DRLs and OLED taillights that feature eight lighting signatures that an owner can choose from for an extra bit of personalization. There's one more light innovation inside, where an available Variable Light Control glass roof offers six dimmable liquid-crystal panels. While the opaque-to-clear treatment is not new, the A5 offers an interesting stripe mode that alternates the pattern between blocks of opaque glass and ones that are clear. We couldn't discern a great use case for this other than to get a noncontinuous tan, and we expect the function that mimics a traditional sunshade will get more action. View Interior Photos Audi Your eye is likely to be drawn to the A5's wall of screens, which Audi calls Digital Stage. It consists of an 11.9-inch gauge display (Audi still calls this Virtual Cockpit) that sits next to a 14.5-inch center touchscreen. An available 10.9-inch passenger display lets your co-pilot mess with audio and navigation and features an active filter that blocks the driver from seeing video content when the vehicle is in motion. We appreciate the subtle curve to the center display, which makes its farthest edge easier to reach. If that's not enough to look at, a color head-up display is optional. View Interior Photos Audi Available Bang & Olufsen headrest speakers can send audio more directly to your earholes; when the nav system cuts in with directions or you're on a phone call, the other speakers keep playing your selected audio while the driver gets a personalized and localized aural overlay. We found it preferable to the abrupt loss of all sound that usually accompanies such break-ins. And of course there's more space inside. A 2.6-inch wheelbase stretch favors the rear passengers, giving them much-needed extra legroom—enough that full-grown adults won't balk at sitting back there for a longer journey. Cargo capacity also increases, from a max of 35 cubic feet to 37 on this new model. When the rear seats are in use, there are 23 cubes available in the hatch. View Interior Photos Audi A Little More Dynamic, Still Comfortable In the transition to a single compact model, Audi has also streamlined the powertrain offerings, which are down from two previously to just one in the A5. Whereas the A4 sedan and A5 Sportback were sold with two versions of the VW Group's turbocharged four-cylinder engine, the new A5 comes with one that eclipses their output figures. With 268 horsepower—seven more than the former "45" powertrain and well above the 201-hp "40"—the revised engine is also up 22 pound-feet of torque on its predecessor, with a total of 295. It's backed by a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic and standard all-wheel drive. We didn't want for power in the new A5 and found its shifting smooth and unobtrusive, even at low speeds—not always a given with this flavor of transmission. Audi claims 60-mph arrives in 5.6 seconds; we clocked the lighter 252-hp A5 Sportback to 60 in 5.0 seconds, so the manufacturer's claim for the new, higher-output version is likely conservative. The only thing that made the A5 feel remotely slow was getting out of it and into the new S5, which we've reviewed previously. View Exterior Photos Audi The A5 is again equipped with a progressive steering system that tightens up the ratio as you wind on lock. Audi now mounts the rack directly to the unibody for more direct feedback, which we liked, but the system is still lacking in overall feel, something we found with the new S5, as well as these cars' Q5 and SQ5 crossover platform-mates. Aside from the numb steering, attacking corners in the A5 doesn't uncover any major faults. The passive dampers in the A5 keeps the body level enough and mostly free of big perturbations that we didn't miss the adaptive setup that's offered on the S5. The tune is definitely more on the comfort side, but you still feel the occasional road imperfection and have enough sense of what the car is doing to push it. In fact, this car feels just a little less nose-heavy than previous A4s and A5s, imparting more of a sporty flair than before. View Exterior Photos Audi With all of these improvements, Audi is making it slightly confusing to shop for a new 2025 A5. These non-Sportback models are being sold alongside A5s and S5s from the previous generation that are also labeled as 2025s. The truly new model is once again offered in Premium, Premium Plus, and Prestige trims. The entry price is $50,995 for the Premium, which is just slightly higher than the outgoing 2025 A5 Sportback's. The upshot is that you won't have to explain what Sportback means to your friends when they happily plop down in the back seat. Specifications Specifications 2025 Audi A5 Vehicle Type: front-engine, all-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door hatchback PRICE Base: Premium, $50,995; Premium Plus, $54,595; Prestige, $57,445 ENGINE turbocharged and intercooled, DOHC 16-valve inline-4, iron block and aluminum head, direct fuel injection Displacement: 121 in3, 1984 cm3 Power: 268 hp @ 6500 rpm Torque: 295 lb-ft @ 1600 rpm TRANSMISSION 7-speed dual-clutch automatic DIMENSIONS Wheelbase: 113.8 in Length: 190.1 in Width: 73.2 in Height: 57.0 in Passenger Volume, F/R: 55/43 ft3 Cargo Volume, Behind F/R: 37/23 ft3 Curb Weight (C/D est): 4150 lb PERFORMANCE (C/D EST) 60 mph: 5.2 sec 100 mph: 13.3 sec 1/4-Mile: 13.9 sec Top Speed: 130 mph EPA FUEL ECONOMY Combined/City/Highway: 26/22/31 mpg Reviewed by David Gluckman Contributing Editor Ever since David was a wee Car and Driver intern, he has kept a spreadsheet listing all the vehicles he's driven and tested. David really likes spreadsheets. He can parallel-park a school bus and once drove a Lincoln Town Car 63 mph in reverse. After taking a break from journalism to work on autonomous vehicles, he's back writing for this and other automotive publications. When David's not searching for the perfect used car, you can find him sampling the latest in gimmicky, limited-edition foodstuffs.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
2025 Audi A5 Is More Expensive Than The A4 It Replaces, But Still Undercuts BMW And Mercedes
The Audi A4 is dead, but Audi's midsize four-ish-door lives on in the new A5, which also supplants the outgoing A5 Sportback in the lineup. Unfortunately for prospective A4 purchasers, that increment in the model name comes with a fairly substantial price bump compared to the outgoing car. Fortunately, though, it's a bump that still means Audi undercuts the German competition — if by less than before, with the new car starting at $48,995 after $1,295 in destination fees. That's a $700 drop from the prior A5 Sportback, but a $3,600 jump from the outgoing A4's $45,395 cost. The new pricing puts Audi right between the BMW 330i's $47,125 MSRP and the Mercedes C300's $49,600 cost. Quattro comes standard on the A5, though, and adding all-wheel drive to those competitors bumps the Audi down to cheapest place, with the 330i xDrive and C300 4Matic asking $49,125 and $51,600, respectively. The Audi is also cheaper than BMW's 4 Series Gran Coupe, which is the closest equivalent to the A5's liftback body style — the 430i Gran Coupe starts at $50,825, while the AWD version is two grand more. I'm putting a blanket "after destination" on all these prices, because you're as tired of reading those words as I am of writing them. Read more: 2024 Acura TLX Type S Is A Different Kind Of AWD Sport Sedan Audi sales haven't been fantastic recently, having dropped off towards the end of last year, so the higher price of the A5 relative to the old A4 may be a method to bolster profits without having to actually sell more cars. That would be helpful for the company, given that its differentiation approach of "tech" hasn't worked out so well yet. A new generation of cars means a new change to try and make the technology stand out, but the company is still spending a lot of its press release text pushing the fancy lighting that we can't legally get in the States. It remains to be seen whether the A5 has a killer differentiator to make it stand out among the German luxury pack, but Audi needs to bring something to the table to justify losing out on that $3,600 discount. Buyers always need a reason to buy, and the A5 won't have cost of entry as that reason any more. What will the next one be? Read the original article on Jalopnik.
