This is the Audi A5 Sportback, Audi's latest foray into N-word territory. This time the cruel in-breeders at Ingolstadt have crossed an estate and a coupé, resulting in a bastard child that ends up in territory somewhere between its two parents... a saloon, perhaps?

Nay, says Audi. The A5 Sportback is similar in concept to the Mercedes-Benz CLS and the VW Passat CC in that it combines coupé aesthetics with saloon practicality - but there's a fundamental difference: a fifth door.

Ah, so it's a hatch. Therefore, while it's ostensibly a CLS clone, it's actually that little bit more practical. There are no UK prices yet, but in Europe the range will be propped up by a 2.0-litre TDI costing 36,000 Euros, which is about £30,500 or £4k more expensive than an equivalent A5 coupé. That said, Audi claims a spartan entry level version will come mid-2010 that 'will make the A5 Sportback the entry model for the A5 range.'

Audi has used up most of the teaser shot's press release banging on about the Sportback's styling, eulogising with phrases such as 'the unusual hatchback design is distinctively emblematic of the vehicle's excellent functionality' and 'the spoiler lip and the diffuser provide contrast and emphasise the athletic tautness of the elongated contour.'

However, it is possible to glean that the Sportback is lower than an A4 saloon, but it still has four full seats and a boot very nearly as big as the A4 Avant's. Five engines will be available from launch: a 2.0-litre TSFI (208bhp) and a 3.2-litre V6 (257bhp) on the petrol front, and a trio of TDI diesels of 2.0-litre, 2.7-litre and 3.0-litre capacities. They've got 168, 187 and 237bhp power outputs respectively - and the last of them has a monster 369lb.ft of torque.

But the Audi engine line-up isn't really news anymore, is it? What we really want to know is if there'll be S and RS versions... and the answer is a definitive "no idea." Well, there'll almost certainly be an S version, which for our money will be a hugely compelling product, what with those looks, all the practicality and that new supercharged V6T engine we enjoyed so much recently in the S4. And that's without even thinking about the athletic tautness of the elongated contour; A5 Sexyback, more like.

Mark Nichol - 17 Jun 2009