The Audi A4 set Volkswagen's quality benchmark across five generations
When the first Audi A4 appeared in 1994, parent company Volkswagen declared it the build quality yardstick for every model it made. Over the next three decades the compact executive saloon ran through five generations, pioneered five-valve engines and even spawned Europe's first mass-produced hybrid, before production ended in 2025.
Audi treats the A4 as a continuation of the old Audi 80, which is why its generations carry codes from B5 to B9. Work on the first began in 1988; Imre Hasanic's exterior design was picked by 1991 and frozen a year later, and production started in November 1994. The layout places the engine up front and lengthwise, driving the front wheels or, on many versions, all four through Audi's quattro system. Saloon and estate bodies were offered, and for two generations a convertible too.
That first car introduced several firsts for the group. It carried a new 1.8-litre engine with five valves per cylinder, derived from Audi Sport work, and in turbocharged form it made 150 PS. A Porsche-derived tiptronic gearbox let drivers choose between full automatic and manual gear selection. For Thailand, engineers even built a 2.4-litre V6 to stay under a tax threshold where import duty leapt from 60 to 100 percent. In 1997 a hybrid Audi duo based on the A4 estate went into mass production, a first for any European maker.
Peter Schreyer's Bauhaus-inspired restyle arrived in October 2000 with the B6, bringing standard electronic stability control and a V8-powered S4. Its multitronic continuously variable transmission drew widespread complaints about glitches, and a Karmann-built cabriolet with a roof that folded in under 30 seconds followed. Late in 2004, the B7 added a tall trapezoidal grille and revised steering and suspension, though it was essentially a heavily reworked B6.
Later generations moved to a shared group platform and passed the coupé and convertible to a new A5 badge. Beyond Ingolstadt, the car was also assembled in Changchun, China, from 2003 and in Aurangabad, India, from 2007.
Source: Audi A4
