2025 A6 e-tron is an Audi sedan with RWD

By the time you click this article after seeing the headline, we can tell you’re looking at it with your eyebrows raised.

We all know that we’re in an era of crossovers, but rear-wheel drive sedans continue to exist in the global market. But a RWD sedan with four rings on the grille? That’s something that has never existed since the pre-world war 2 days. The guys at Ingolstadt may have thought, “It’s about time we build one”.

And so they did with the all-new, and now electric-only version of the long-standing Audi A6. After concentrating its electrification efforts on its crossover lineup, Audi has started to diversify its EV lineup by offering the A6 e-tron in Sportback and the Avant body style.

The all-new Audi A6 e-tron rides in the Premium Platform Electric (PPE) architecture – the same dedicated EV platform that underpins the Q6 e-tron and the Porsche Macan. We’re noticing some similarities with the A5 Sportback particularly with how Audi did its flat and wide proportions.

In front, the A6 e-tron gets a split headlight design with configurable light signatures for the adaptive matrix LED lighting units. Audi purposely made a low and sloping roofline along with flow-optimized shapes around the car to minimize drag and maximize electric range.

As a result, the German carmaker claims a drag coefficient of just 0.21 for the Sportback version – making the A6 e-tron their most aero-efficient road car to date. The Avant version also does a Cd of 0.24 which is not too far off.

Inside, the dashboard resembles the design from the ICE-powered A5, complete with the 11.9-inch digital instrument cluster, 14.5-inch touchscreen for the infotainment, and an extra 10.9-inch screen for the front passenger.

The A6 e-tron also comes with an optional smart panoramic glass roof with switchable transparency. It can minimize direct sunlight and becomes opaque at the touch of a button thanks to the glass roof being made of PDLC (polymer dispersed liquid crystal).

Audi offers the A6 e-tron in two performance levels for each body style. First is the aforementioned A6 e-tron performance that comes in a single motor, rear-wheel-drive setup that generates 367 PS. The newly developed lithium-ion battery for the PPE platform has a total capacity of 100 kWh, ensuring an impressive range of up to 756 km for the A6 Sportback, and up to 720 km for the A6 Avant.

In terms of performance, the A6 e-tron can go from 0 to 100 km/h in just 5.4 seconds and a top speed of 210 km/h.

Meanwhile, the hotter S6 Sportback e-tron and S6 Avant e-tron models get the signature Quattro all-wheel-drive and come with a more potent dual motor setup with 503 PS (up to 550 PS with launch control). Both body styles reach 100 km/h from a standstill in just 3.9 seconds and have a top speed of 240 km/h.

But since the dual motor setup consumes more battery juice, the S6 e-tron gets a range of up to 675 kms in the Sportback, and up to 647 kms with the Avant.

In terms of charging, both the A6 and S6 models get 800-volt technology and a maximum DC charging capacity of up to 270 kW. When plugged into a high-power charging station, the state of charge can increase from 10 to 80% in just 21 minutes. As for AC charging, the A6 e-tron is capable of up to 11 kW at standard home chargers, while a 22 kW AC charging option will be offered at a later date.

As for other features, the A6 e-tron comes with optional adaptive air suspension, and adaptive driving assistant plus as a standard feature.

Audi says the A6 and S6 e-tron will be available in Europe by September 2024. With the Philippine market usually getting models at a later date, then we may have to wait until 2025 to see the A6 e-tron here. While that’s the case, let’s just take comfort in the fact we'll no longer wait for a century to finally see a rear-drive Audi sedan.