The entire industry is rife with rumours left right and centre about the features or non-features the brand-new Q5 has which of course Audi are keeping under a real tight cover.



So what is the motor journalist to do when asked by his editor to go out and find out as much information about the new Audi A4 is possible?

Not the easiest of tasks but here goes.

What are we to expect with the new A4? Well to be honest we are not actually going to have to wait that long before the new A4 appears in ?the metal? so to speak at this years Frankfurt motor show in Germany in September.

Trying to put together information gleaned from various different source is it would appear that being you a full is clearly a four door saloon with what looks like conventional handles. At the front-end of the car it is probably likely to display the latest sort of styling the company has become famous with i.e. a four sided grille with the company logo on the front.

At the rear end of the car, the lamp clusters it is reckoned could well resemble a carbon copy of the current A5 coupes rear.

The thing about the launch of the new A4 is that though it is quite common practice amongst car manufacturers to keep information under wraps as much as possible, it is probably quite rare to keep this control of information is tight as it currently is.

The rationale behind this according to an Audi spokesman was that the company was most keen not to detract from the popularity of the A4 and therefore adversely affect sales of one of their flagship models. Considering the fact that the new model is scheduled to go on sale in mid to late 2008 then you can understand the company's reluctance to positively do anything that would damage existing sales.

With regards to the engines for the new series is probable that in the first stages the engine range from the current A4 will be carried over so that means that the popular 2L TDI Diesel variants will be unaffected. These are expected to be joined by naturally aspirated and turbocharged 2L petrol variants.

At the top end of the scale it is expected that the company will introduce a series of high performance variants such as the S4 and the even faster RS4. At the moment none of the test staff or design people in Audi are prepared to comment.

Lastly it is expected that the new A4 will be offered in both saloon and Avant estate versions initially and it is hoped that a new version of the soft top will be released the year later. The company have yet to make a decision whether the new Cabriolet will retain the fabric top or whether the company will return to folding metal hard tops following the path of BMW.

It is expected that this is unlikely to happen as the Company are on record as saying that this is a road that they do not wish to go down again.

Time will tell.