REVEALED NEW AUDI Q5

FIRST SIGHT All-new version of Audi's biggest-selling SUV has an evolutionary exterior look, and much bigger changes inside

- Richard Ingram

THE Audi Q5 is a huge global success story. Worldwide, the brand's mid-size model outsells everything from the AI to A8, and all of the models in between; the SUV's appeal knows no bounds.

It was launched in 2008, then the second-generation Q5 followed in late 2016 and built on the successful formula with a subtle new look and improved technology. It's much the same story for the Mk3 model.

This new Q5 (and the hot SQ5 that has also appeared) is the second car to use Audi's Premium Platform Combustion (PPC) system, and its design is influenced by the mechanically similar A5 saloon and Avant. At the front, the Q5 gets a wide single-frame grille and new-look badge, plus slim LED headlights and a pair of air intakes.

To the rear, the Q5 gets a fullwidth light bar, linking a set of slim, customisable LED tail-lights, which designer Konrad Tröger told us "stretches the design" and emphasises the car's width. Also new for the Q5 is a third brake light in the roof-mounted spoiler with a "mirror" function, that projects onto the rear window for increased visibility.

The rear bumper is almost completely engulfed by a piece of wide mesh-like trim, which sits above a set of genuine "hot" exhaust pipes like those found on the new A5.

Again, Audi's two-dimensional fourring logo sits prominently on the centre of the boot lid.

But while the exterior design doesn't change the game, the interior tweaks are considered much more significant. Here, the Q5 follows in the footsteps of the A5 - as well as the newly launched A6 e-tron - with an (optional) three-screen layout running Audi's latest MMI infotainment.