Audi has announced a new naming process that will see all new models feature designations linked to driveline output rather than traditional capacity.

Instigated in a move Audi says will see future models reflect the added performance delivered by electric powered hybrid systems and/or pure electric systems such as that being developed for the company’s new e-tron SUV due out in 2018, the new naming process groups together models on a scale of 30 to 70 – 30 being models boasting a power output between 81 and 96kW and 70 being reserved for models packing over 400kW.

The names increase in an increment of 5 depending on the output of any specific model.

In an example of its new naming process, Audi says the Q2 1.6 TDI will become the Q2 30 TDI.

The new process initially calls for eight new models names:

30 for models with between 81kW and 96kW

35 for models with between 110 and 120kW

40 for models with between 125 and 150kW

45 for models with between 169 and 185kW

50 for models with between 210 and 230kW

60 for models with between 320 and 340kW

70 for models with more than 400kW

The 55 name is yet to be officially confirmed.

The designation of each model is linked directly to the output of the driveline irrespective of its layout. The new names will apply to all standard Audi models with either a petrol, diesel, natural gas, plug-in hybrid or electric driveline.

“As alternative drive technologies become increasingly relevant, engine displacement as a performance attribute is becoming less important to our customers. The clarity and logic of structuring the designations according to power output makes it possible to distinguish between the various performance levels,” explains Dietmar Voggenreiter, head of Sales and Marketing at Audi.

The roll out of Audi’s new models is set to begin during the third quarter of 2017 with the new A8, in which the traditional 3.0 TDI is set to become the 50 TDI and the existing 3.0 TFSI nomenclature will be eschewed in favour of a new 55 TFSI designation.

The new Audi names only apply to standard models. “S and RS and the Audi R8 will retain their classic names in reference to their top position in the model range,” says Audi.