There are only two reasons Audi's new A5 Sportback won't be seen in U.S. showrooms shortly after production begins in September. The first is the brand's apparently unshakeable belief that Americans don't like and won't buy premium hatchbacks, no matter how sleekly seductive. "This concept is designed for Europe," shrugged Audi executives at the A5 Sportback launch in Italy this week.
While the model will be sold in markets as distinctively un-European as China and Australia, the company has no plans to add it to the U.S. lineup. According to German officials, this is chiefly because Audi of America isn't asking for the Sportback to be put on any discussion agenda. Compared with the apparent lack of interest both sides of the Atlantic, the second obstacle is insignificant. It's the small issue of certifying the A5 Sportback to meet U.S.
Government crash-safety standards. Close relatives from the Audi family, including the A4, already satisfy the regulations, so this would appear to be a mere formality.
With key dimensions significantly longer than the A5 Coupe's, the Sportback's basic footprint is closer to A4 size. Its wheelbase, for example, is more than two inches greater than the A5 Coupe but less than one-tenth of an inch off the A4. But the lower, broader Sportback's style genes definitely come from the A5 side of the family.
The exterior is yet another clean, restrained, and sweetly proportioned job from Audi's design studio. It's tough to find serious fault with their work. Maybe the crease that swoops up and over the rear wheel arch could use a little more curvature and tension to better match the car's front end. Perhaps the rearmost pillar does look a little heavy from some angles. But the bright trim around the frameless side glass (the daylight opening's rear kick-up is intended to evoke the 100 Coupe of the late 1960s) and the elegance of the discreet spoiler pressed into the tailgate's trailing edge are ample compensation.
