Right on

Q Audi have brought back the Q5 to India right before the festive season and hope the luxury SUV will make the sales charts spike like before

- Sarmad Kadiri

TILL A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO, AUDI'S 'Q' or SUV range made for close to 45 per cent of their total sales and the Q5 was one of the strongest products. A huge chunk of the overall sales were their smooth and efficient diesel engines. But the Q range and the diesels were phased out during the BS6 emission norm switch as Audi focused on their petrol-powered sedans and sports cars. And then the pandemic delayed plans further. Finally, the Q5 facelift is here with improved styling, a revised petrol engine, and some new features.

The octagonal grille is much bigger and immediately attracts your attention and announces that it's an Audi even before you look at the four rings sitting in the centre. Now there are prominent vertical chrome slats within the grille that give the facelift a distinct face. Even the sleek LED headlamps are all new and have a chrome strip running through it, adding more character to the Q5's face. The bumper is new, too, with higher air inlets.

Audi have brought the Sport' variant to India and that's the reason it gets a generous dose of chrome and brush-metal highlights all around. There are some more silver highlights around the foglamps, bordering the window area, and some more running at the bottom of the door sill. You'll also notice that Audi have now opted to go up a size on the wheels. From the earlier 18-inchers, the 2021 model gets 19-inchers running 235/55 R19 rubber. The five twinspoke alloys in simple silver look understated and too simple. I'm sure most buyers would want to upgrade those for snazzier ones.

To make the rear a bit more distinctive, Audi have opted for new LED tail-lamps with triple elements which look pretty premium. Yes, there's more brush metal and chrome at the back too. But, overall, in terms of the shape and size, there's no real change to the model which we had in the BS4 era.