- Next-generation RS6 might sport the same twin-turbo V8 hybrid as a Bentley.
- Audi notes the RS6 has to be capable of towing trailers, yachts, and boats.
- Compared to the new RS5, the RS6 will be longer, wider, and more luxurious.
Performance benchmarks are creeping higher across Audi’s RS lineup, and the next RS6 will need to respond in kind, The newly unveiled RS5 actually delivers more power than the outgoing 592 hp RS6, meaning Audi will need to step up its game to differentiate the next-generation RS6. The answer, it seems, is more than incremental, with a plug-in hybrid V8 under serious consideration.
Audi is reportedly weighing two distinct routes for the C9-generation RS6, prototypes of which have already been seen in both Avant form and, for the first time in 15 years, as a sedan. One option pares things back on paper, replacing the V8 with a plug-in hybrid 2.9-liter twin-turbo V6 shared with the RS5, albeit reworked to surpass the current car’s 630 hp and 608 lb-ft (825 Nm).
Read: The RS6 Was Avant-Only for 15 Years. Audi Is Fixing That
The more exciting prospect would be using the same twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 plug-in hybrid as the Bentley Continental GT Speed, bringing with it 771 hp and 738 lb-ft (1,000 Nm). That would comfortably put it in the firing line of the BMW M5 in both sedan and Touring forms. Audi, for now, is keeping its cards close. Speaking to Car Sales, Audi Sport boss Rolf Michl made it clear the new RS6 will not be a lightly reworked RS5 in a different suit.
Sedan And Avant Models Are Coming
Illustrations Nikita Chuyiko for Kolesa
“We know about the meaning of the RS6 for our history… be sure that we are carefully regarding all our generations of RS6,” he said. “Every generation had its USPs, and also the oncoming generation will show that. In different RS6 generations, I have driven 250,000-300,000km at least. I drive a lot in a mixture now of the B10 RS5 and C8 RS6. For me, it is very obvious where the cars are separate, and this is by far, more than a question of cylinders.”
Michl added that, unlike the RS5, the new RS6 has to be capable of towing “horses, yachts, boats,” noting that the buyer profile of RS6 models is different than the smaller RS5. “An RS6 today is also a very luxurious travel machine,” he said.
Recent prototypes of the new RS6 have confirmed that it will be sold in both sedan and Avant configurations. In typical RS6 fashion, it’ll sprout a pair of massive fenders, beefed-up bumpers, and new dual exhausts, similar to those of the smaller RS5.
