Audi brand presented a lightweight A5 Coupe prototype with over 100kg reduced weight. By swapping the steel construction for advanced aluminium and carbon fibre, the new lightweight Audi A5 Coupe prototype offers much better fuel economy, emissions reduction and handling agility.

The new optimized A5 Coupe prototype benefits from the aluminium Audi Space Frame (ASF) concept with which Audi broke new ground 15 years ago. Use of the ASF principle reduces the weight of a car body by at least 40 per cent compared with conventional steel construction, and this shows in a kerb weight of 1,310kg for the aluminium A5 prototype, versus a total of 1,420kg for the equivalent steel-bodied series production model.

With the new lighter construction, the A5 prototype is able to use a four-cylinder engine - 2.0-litre, 211PS Turbo FSI, and to achieve a power-to-weight ratio of 161PS per tonne. For comparison, the ‘standard' A5 3.2 FSI V6 quattro with 265PS, which tips the scales at 1,540kg, shades it only by a fraction at 172PS per tonne.

The new A5 Coupe's lightweight design not only enables a smaller engine to supplement a larger one with no impact on performance and gains in economy and emissions, but also has a knock-on effect on ancillaries such as the brakes and transmission, which can also be reduced in size and weight.

Audi A5 Coupe Aluminium prototype