Audi Answers Your Q4 e-tron Questions!
We asked Audi of America’s Senior Project Manager over a dozen of your questions about the Audi Q4 e-tron. Here’s what he had to say.
Last week, AudiWorld joined Audi USA for a first drive of the Audi Q4 e-tron and Q4 Sportback e-tron. Over the course of a long, but enjoyable day, Audi reps briefed us on the differences between 2022 and 2023 models, let us walk around and check out several different trim levels and models, and then sent us out to drive in the mountains between Oceanside and Temecula, California. (If you don’t know the area, imagine a stunning blend of wineries and farms that looks part Italy, part Mexico, and part Old West.)
During my time with Audi, I sat down with Anthony Garbis, the Senior Manager, Product Planning, for Audi of America to ask him questions AudiWorld members submitted here in THIS thread. My apologies if I missed or misunderstood any of your questions, but I attempted to ask as many as possible with the time we had. Here’s what we discussed, edited for clarity:
AudiWorld: Why were folks not able to order 2022 Q4 e-trons and will this change for the 2023 model year?
Anthony Garbis: So we just released the configurator for the ’23 models last week. So that’s rolling out and dealers can take orders now. We’ll see the ’23s on sale next month in October. And so just now in August, we released the ’22s. We had a limited volume of ’22s that we’ve released in are available for sale at the moment. Those were all preconfigured internally by us.
Anytime we do a launch of a new car, we build up preconfigured variance we send to the factory and they plan accordingly for that volume and these variants. And we ended up building all of the ’22 quantities due to the global environment. It was less than we expected because we just built them all instead of taking orders.
But when it comes to ’23 now, order whatever you want. And the ’23 is available in the rear-wheel-drive Q4 40 in Premium and Premium Plus, and then you can add Prestige onto the Q4 50 models.
Are there any plans for new colors for 2023 or custom colors that are offered on other models?
We always look at this in terms of exclusive paint. But it depends on the factory and it depends on capacity and all of this.
Is the 360-degree camera coming back?
We haven’t off yet. Not on the Q4.
Oh, so what we saw today during the press briefing that was just the pre-sense and other sensors?
Yeah, so you have a couple things. So you have the radar which is behind [the front grille], so it’s hidden. And then you have the front camera up here [at the top of the window], which is for land keeping. And these things work together in terms of adaptive, cruise assist and then pre-sense, automatic emergency braking, and collision warning.
So no plans to add a 360-degree camera for ’23 then?
No, not for ’23.
A lot of folks aren’t in love with the piano black trim.
I read that a lot on the forums too. It depends on how you take care of it. And so I have a lot of piano black trim in [my A6 Allroad]. What works really well is a microfiber towel and Meguiar’s Quick Interior Detailer and it doesn’t streak the black. It comes perfectly clear and it doesn’t scratch. And so that’s what I’ve been using for years.
What about unwanted reflectivity?
The black should have no reflection and the [aluminum] is what reflects. We’re also very careful at where we put light materials because you don’t want them to reflect into the windows and into the mirrors on the side and in the windshield. So you’ll never really have white or bright colors on the tops, so you don’t have that reflection
Has there been any talk about adjusting Q4 pricing in the wake of the Inflation Reduction Act?
That of course was a big change that came in at the last minute. But, you know, now they put in income level caps as well starting next year. And so it really depends on, you look at your household income and your customers, and would it matter? But in terms of pricing, it’s always fluid. We look at it, we determine [pricing], and we aren’t like some other brands where they change prices every other week. So, you know, we put out a price, we tend to stick to it.
But I don’t have much that I can comment on that.
Any software updates coming for 2022 owners?
Every 2022 has the same software level as 2023. So they’re aligned. They’re running the same exact software.
Why are Audi turn signals, particularly rear turn signals, different in the US versus Europe?
So it comes down to surface area. You have an amount of surface area that you have to illuminate in terms of when they swipe. So you have some of these really thin turn signals in Europe that don’t meet the requirements in the US, so that’s why we have to flash the brake light with it too.
Everything that comes to lighting has to do with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) that were last set in the 1970s. So we’re working on it.
I assume that’s the reason the headlights aren’t the digital matrix LEDs
So with the S8 [reviewed HERE] and the original e-tron, they have the digital matrix lights that can do projections onto the road, little animations and stuff. [But here in the United States] you can’t legally do that when you’re driving. We have, though, when your parked, animations and video that little plays on the road of the wall, which is super cool.
Right.
For the Q4, the headlights are the same [in the US vs the Euro headlights]. We just have different functionality. So we disable the matrix functionality so your high beam doesn’t shutter around the other cars on coming. Because we can’t do that legally yet. So it’s still being discussed and the laws seem to be changing, but we’re making sure that you have to make sure the headlights meet those requirements.
So same hardware, different coding. And, of course, we have side marker lenses that we need. But otherwise, we want [more digital matrix LED functionality]. We’ve had this technology for a long time, but we haven’t been able to use [in the US].
Any comments about the Q4 e-tron automatically turning itself off when the vehicle goes into park?
We have a sensor in the seat, so you don’t actually have to turn on or off the car. You just get in or you get out [and the Q4 turns on or off, respectively.]
Is there a way to keep the power on in a setting or menu? We have a reader to likes to park temporarily to grab his mail and doesn’t want the Q4 to turn off.
No. So if you’re out of the car, he could hit the ignition button again once he’s out. But I don’t understand why you really need to keep the car on when you get out.
Well I noticed that it powers down things like CarPlay and such. It’s a bit disruptive.
Yeah, [CarPlay] shuts off. But this is the first car we have where you just get in it, you have the key in your pocket, your foot goes on the brake, and you put it into gear. You don’t have to push the start button.
What about keeping the air conditioner running? I think some call it Camp Mode?
Or like Res Mode. Yeah, [in MMI], you can can set it to run, if you shut off the car, run the AC immediately for 30 minutes. And you can also do remote cabin preconditioning with the app.
Speaking of that, any plans to give more access to the API via the app?
That, that I do not have. Cause I don’t do the programming on the app.
Any plans to allow AppleMaps to display in the virtual cockpit?
That’s a very large discussion. If you watch the news, and it’s been a lot of news from Apple on this because I wanna take over all the screens, right? And a lot of the manufacturers like, do we wanna do this? You know, you give real estate, you also then have data concerns of what your data and the customer’s data you’re providing back to Apple. And so there’s a whole host of things in here. Eventually, we are working on doing navigation information in the virtual cockpit. But in terms of other things, that’s still fluid in that discussion.
Any concerns about the Dynamic Charging screen and inaccuracies when planning trips that include charging times?
That’s really tough. Because it depends on what’s the charger or what communications between the charger and the car. What brand of charger. And of course your state of charge. So if you’re thinking you’re not getting the [max charging rate of 150kilowatts] it depends, does your battery stay charged? You know, above 30% —
Does the Dynamic Charging screen tell you your current rate of charge?
Yes, it does. And you’ll see that, of course, the more full your battery gets, the slower your speed gets because of just heat and capacity. You can’t go 150 kilowatts to a hundred percent.
[NOTE: after first publishing this interview, we asked a followup question about Electrify America’s Plug and Charge feature and 2022 vs 2023 model-year charging rates and here’s what came back —
The ’22 and ’23 model years can charge up to 150kW, though Plug and Charge is not available in Q4 at this time. ]
Any production forecast for 2023 Q4 models that you’re planning to bring to the US?
Yes, but we don’t talk about that.
Last question, Homelink is no longer part of the MMI screen —
Yeah, so we took it out from ’23 from the A segment, so A3, Q3 and we didn’t have it in Q4. And then in the future, something will be coming that could likely be retrofitted to these cars. That’ll make everyone happier.
Excellent, thanks so much for your time!
Photos: Michael S. Palmer
