Audi Prologue Avant concept to be unveiled at Geneva show

These are the first official sketches of Audi’s Prologue Avant, which will make its global debut in Geneva next month.

Following on from last year’s Prologue concept – itself designed to preview Audi’s future design direction for the A6, A7 and A8 line-up – this Avant concept shows how the same styling theory will be rolled out across Audi’s estate range.

From these first sketches, we can see the raked-back concept will get Audi’s large hexagonal front grille, as well as its signature LED lighting designs and large front air intakes. At the rear, twin exhausts are incorporated into the rear bumper, while a modest boot-mounted spoiler can also be seen.

Speaking to Autocar UK at the LA motor show in November, new Audi design boss Marc Lichte said “every element” of the Prologue’s design would be used on future production models. The first model to feature the new design language will be the next A8, which is due in 2016.

The Prologue was also said to preview a future range-topping A9 model. The Prologue Avant could therefore offer clues to a future A9 Avant, taking on the likes of Mercedes-Benz’s CLS Shooting Brake.

It’s likely that the Prologue Avant will keep the same overall dimensions as the original concept, which measured 5.1 metres long and sat on 22-inch alloy wheels.

The four-wheel drive Prologue concept was powered by a 4.0-litre V8 engine producing 597bhp, and it’s unlikely Audi will have changed this for the Prologue Avant.

As with the Prologue, Audi looks set to fit the Prologue Avant's interior with a large, full-width OLED display which does away with virtually all contol buttons. The dashboard will also feature supplementary displays for multimedia functions and driver information.