The Audi A6 will gain an electric equivalent in 2024, complete with an Avant-badged version that’s set to be the one of the first electric executive estates on sale.
Ingolstadt’s answer to the upcoming 2023 BMW i5 will be heavily based on last year’s acclaimed Audi A6 E-tron and A6 Avant E-tron concepts – with minimal revisions made to prepare it for showrooms, Autocar understands.
Speaking recently to Autocar, Audi design boss Marc Lichte revealed that a recent string of concepts from the firm are much closer to production cars than is often the case.
He revealed, for example, that the new 2024 Audi A8 will be “very close” to 2021’s Grandsphere concept and strongly hinted that the new Audi Activesphere concept could become an ‘Allroad 2.0’ version of the next Audi A7 in 2027 – and he finished up by suggesting the A6 E-tron concept duo were likewise concrete previews of the next-generation A6.
“At the end of this year, we will launch the Q6 E-tron, and then a few months later the A6 E-tron,” Lichte said. “The A6 E-tron is exactly three years after we launched the E-tron GT, and on the A6 E-tron – as you could see on the concept car, which is very, very, very, very, very close to the production car – you can see that we will go sleeker and simpler.”
He explained that the Q6 E-tron and A6 E-tron will be the first models to showcase the brand’s refreshed design image and that the Activesphere shows hints at the next evolution after that.
“After three years, we do an evolution; it’s a clear strategy,” he said. “That’s why the Activesphere looks strange from today’s perspective: we’re talking about a car which I see in our portfolio in 2027.
“If you look to the end of this year and beginning of next year with the A6, you will see this evolution.”
The A6 E-tron concepts sit atop the Premium Platform Electric (PPE) architecture, which Audi is developing in partnership with Porsche and will be deployed first in the new Porsche Macan EV and Audi Q6 E-tron in 2023.
This platform blends elements of the Porsche Taycan and Audi E-tron GT’s J1 underpinnings with the MEB architecture used more widely by the Volkswagen Group.
Audi said it will ensure “that what the car’s lines imply is translated into a standard of dynamic driving performance and everyday suitability befitting use for long drives”.