► New spy photos of 2023 Audi A6 e-Tron
► Hatchback and estate versions spotted
► Based on new PPE platform, Avant too
It seems fully-electric estate cars are like buses; you wait for ages for one, and then a few turn up come at once. Our spy photographers have taken pictures of Audi’s A6 e-Tron Avant out and about, and they follow similar pictures of BMW’s i5 Touring also out winter testing. The market for electric wagons is about to heat up.
What are we looking at?
The pictures above and below show a prototype car covered in camo, and it appears to look a lot like the hatchback model we’ve already spotted. As you’d expect, the estate is identical up until the rear doors where the long roof line continues – adding more space and arguably more elegant lines.
It doesn’t look at striking as the A6 Avant concept shown by Ingolstadt a while ago, but it’s possible the swooping lines of the concept will instead make it in to a faster RS6 e-Tron version.
One more thing to note; conventional door mirrors are fitted to this prototype and the hatchback we’ve seen, although digital cameras may be offered as an option.
What about the saloon?
Tellingly, this is less of a traditional notchback saloon and more of a fastback shape (below). Expect a high-lifting hatchback opening to make it easier to load the boot.
It’s not dissimilar to the A7 Sportback – or even the rear end of the original Audi 100 Avant, our paparazzo commented.
Audi A6 e-Tron: coming in 2023
This new electric Audi is based around the group’s latest PPE EV platform, due to be shared with inhouse cousins the next Porsche Macan EV and Audi Q6 e-tron. That’s PPE standing for Premium Platform Electric, or the next generation of hardware for more upmarket group EVs.
It’s a rival to the upcoming BMW i5 and the Tesla Model 3 and Model S brigade and we expect to see the new Apartment 6 e-Tron family launched later in 2023.
It will offer the very latest quick charging and longer range thanks to battery sizes around the 100kWh capacity. Helping it achieve this is a new 800-volt electronic foundation and our sources point to a theoretical battery range approaching 400 miles.
Electric cars are easily tuned and insiders have already confirmed to CAR that a go-faster RS6 e-Tron is in the works, boasting a muscular 600bhp+ although higher-selling volume models will be offered in a more modest configuration aimed at extending daily range, rather than dusting off a troublesome GTI at the lights.
And we already know there will be an Audi A6 e-Tron Avant, as trailed by this stunning concept car (above). Electric estate cars have been few and far between, but it seems that the product planners are finally broadening their oeuvre.