2017 Audi S5 gets $17k price cut

AUDI has announced that its all-new 2017 S5 will carry a retail price of $105,800 plus on-roads, slashing nearly $17k from the asking price of the outgoing $122,615 model.

In addition to this, Ingolstadt also claims to have built in around $10,000 of extra value over its predecessor. Coupled with an extra 15kW shot in the arm from its turbocharged V6, this lighter, fitter S5 will take the fight to BMW and Mercedes-AMG.

It needs to as well. The peak sales year for the S5 range was 2010, since then orders have steadily decayed, despite a significant product improvement in 2012. This price cut comes on the heels of Mercedes-AMG announcing a $105,615 sticker price for its 270kW C43 coupe.

Audi Australia points to around $10k of extra standard equipment built into the latest S5 including Virtual Cockpit featuring Google Earth, as well as Audi Connect wifi functionality and robotic height-adjustable seatbelt feeders among a host of trim upgrades. Audi also expects strong take-up of the S5’s $5600 Technik package which adds Matrix LED headlights, a 19-speaker Bang and Olufsen 755w stereo and a head-up display.

With the absence of BMW’s 440i xDrive from the Australian market, the S5 remains the only all-wheel drive sports coupe in this particular sector, but it’s debatable whether the evolutionary nature of the latest turbocharged model would have been enough on its own to generate a marked uptick in sales. This major price realignment could have the required effect, although it’ll require the introduction of the S5 Sportback model, due in the middle of 2017, to fully flesh out Ingolstadt’s market assault.