The fourth brake light is different in Europe than in the United States.
It's been a decade since BMW beat Audi to the laser headlight race. Although it lost that battle, the Ingolstadt marque continued to innovate in the lighting department. Highly advanced matrix LEDs with an adaptive high beam are now the norm for a car carrying the Four Rings. There have been changes at the back, too. Configurable OLED taillights are also fairly common nowadays. On the recently unveiled Q5, there's an interesting new feature.
No, your eyes are not deceiving you–that's an extra brake light. Aside from having the traditional third brake light mounted in the roof spoiler, the Q5 has another one displayed on the tailgate's glass. There's a projector light incorporated into the underside of the rear spoiler. The interrupted bar is wider than the regular brake light above it, making it even more visible to tailgaters and encouraging them to back off when they notice the Q5 is braking.
These press images show the hot Audi SQ5 in European flavor but its American cousin will have a different setup. Instead of those multiple red slabs, the US-spec luxury crossover will project "Quattro" onto the rear glass. Audi isn't allowed to do that in Europe because regulators see it as a form of advertisement, which is illegal.
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As we've seen in other high-end Audi models launched recently, the 2025 Q5 has configurable light patterns both front and rear. The matrix LED headlights are offered with up to eight digital light signatures, depending on the level of equipment. At the back, an evolution of digital OLED taillight tech can be personalized as well. In addition, the rear lights can alert drivers behind them of accidents and breakdowns by displaying warning symbols.
We have mixed feelings about this. Some of these light games seem gimmicky while others could be useful in certain scenarios. Either way, at least Audi isn’t putting rear turn signals dangerously low. I’m looking at you, Hyundai and Kia. The Koreans aren't doing it because of regulations saying cars sold in the US must have fixed brake lights. By the way, if that happens, there has to be a separate set of lights on bodywork that doesn't move. That was actually the case with the old Q5 since its clamshell tailgate (RIP) incorporated the main taillights. The extra set of lights was mounted in the rear bumper.
A Kia spokesperson told The Drive the decision to put the lights in the bumper was driven by a styling choice: "A senior designer from the Global Design Center said that they wanted to emphasize the slim design of the rear combination lamp. The blinker is placed at the bottom of the rear bumper to offer a sense of unity with the fog lamp design of the front bumper."
Lights aside, the new Audi Q5 is a handsome crossover, albeit one would argue it's too similar to the fully electric Q6 E-Tron. It now has real exhaust tips, and back to the lighting theme, it doesn't have the Q6's controversial split lights.