All-new Audi A6 e-tron costs from £69k, 463-mile range

• All-new £69,600 electric executive car
• Available in ‘Sportback’ and ‘Avant’ bodystyles
• Up to 463 miles of range

This is the new Audi A6 e-tron, and it’s here to take the electric executive car fight to the BMW i5 and Mercedes EQE. It’s an all-new model for Audi, sharing its platform with the Q6 e-tron SUV and occupying a slot above the newly-unveiled Audi A5. Prices start from £69,900, representing a significant jump over the old Audi A6 saloon that starts from just over £46k, but placing the A6 e-tron in a similar ballpark to the £67,695 BMW i5.

With 270kW DC rapid charging, up to 463 miles of range and Audi’s most aerodynamic body ever, the A6 e-tron certainly has the on-paper stats to stack up against the best of today’s premium EVs. It’ll be offered as both a ‘Sportback’ four-door coupe and an ‘Avant’ estate from launch, with both models getting sportier S6 e-tron variants, too. Prices haven’t been confirmed yet, but we expect it to cost from around £62,000 when it reaches UK roads towards the end of the year.

What are the Audi A6 e-tron’s key design features?

It’s all about aerodynamics for the sixth generation of Audi A6. The traditional saloon shape has been dropped in favour of a swoopier, coupe-esque ‘Sportback’ model, with a sloping roofline and a hatchback. As a result, the A6 e-tron Sportback is the most aerodynamic Audi ever built with a drag coefficient of 0.21, contributing to its impressive range. The Avant gets a figure of 0.24.

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Also helping to minimise air disturbance is the smooth front end design, which includes a pair of slim LED daytime-running lights. They can be configured to display various customisable lighting signatures, along with the rear OLED tail lights. There’s a sealed underbody and rear diffuser, too, managing the flow of air under the car. Nine wheel designs are available, with some specifically designed to maximise aerodynamic performance. 

Trim levels are Sport, S line and Edition 1, with even Sport trims getting 20-inch alloy wheels and LED headlights that are over-the-air upgradable to adaptive Matrix LEDs. There’s also a powered tailgate, heated seats with leather upholstery and aluminium interior trim. S line adds a sporty exterior and interior makeover, a sports steering wheel and privacy glass. Meanwhile, Edition 1 brings 21-inch alloys and red brake calipers, black exterior trim, Matrix LED headlights with customisable DRLs and interior upgrades including a 10.9-inch display for the front passenger with an ‘Active Privacy’ mode to prevent the driver from getting distracted.

The A6 Avant e-tron is indistinguishable from the Sportback front on, but it gets a traditional estate-style boot in place of the sloping hatchback. There’s 502 litres of storage space on offer, increasing to 1,422 litres with the rear seats folded, while it can tow up to 2,100kg – the same as the Sportback. 

Digital side mirrors are available as an option for the A6 e-tron, again in a move to reduce drag. In place of traditional mirrors, you get a pair of slim cameras and two digital displays either side of the dashboard. It’s the same setup found in the Q8 and Q6 e-tron, while the rest of the interior is largely lifted from the latter.

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There’s a giant curved panel taking up most of the dashboard, with a 11.9-inch display for Audi’s Virtual Cockpit and a 14.5-inch display for the Google-based infotainment system. Four-zone climate control is available as an option, too, along with an air quality package with built-in ‘aroma fragrance’ and an electrochromic sunroof that can toggle between transparent to opaque at the touch of a button.

What are the important specs for the Audi A6 e-tron?

The new Audi A6 e-tron sits on the PPE platform, the new EV-only architecture from the Volkswagen Group that made its debut under the Porsche Macan Electric. In line with Audi’s new naming strategy, the A6 e-tron will be offered solely with an electric powertrain – only odd-numbered cars get a combustion engine from now on. There will be four A6 e-tron models offered from launch, with two different battery sizes and either rear-wheel drive or ‘quattro’ four-wheel drive.

The regular A6 e-tron uses an 83kWh battery connected to a rear-mounted 281bhp motor, good for 379 miles of range and a 0-62mph time of six seconds flat. For the headline 466-mile range figure, you’ll have to upgrade to the A6 e-tron Performance. This swaps the standard battery for a 100kWh unit, while you also get a beefier 362bhp motor for a 0.6-second faster acceleration time. 

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Above both of these models sits the A6 e-tron quattro, which combines the bigger battery and rear motor with an additional motor on the front axle. Range suffers slightly, dropping to 435 miles, but you get extra performance as a trade off. Power is upped to 426bhp,  resulting in a 0-62mph time of 4.5 seconds. 

The S6 e-tron is the quickest of the lot, however, with a 496bhp dual-motor setup and a sub-four second acceleration time. It’ll still do over 400 miles of range, despite the added performance. All models are available in the Avant estate bodystyle, but the boxier rear end results in a slightly reduced range across the board.

No matter which version you pick, all A6 e-trons are compatible with rapid charging speeds of up to 270kW. Find a public charger capable of delivering such speeds, and you could complete a 10 to 80% top up in as little as 21 minutes.

How much does the Audi A6 e-tron cost and when can I buy one?

Pricing has now been confirmed for the Audi A6 e-tron, and starts from £69,900, making it slightly more expensive than the entry-level BMW i5. A version with a smaller battery should arrive in future to bring down its price somewhat. Opting for the Avant estate increases its price to £71,700.

The S6 e-tron will cost a fair chunk more, with a starting price of £97,500, increasing to £99,300 for the S6 Avant e-tron – slightly less than the equivalent BMW i5 M60 xDrive. An even hotter RS 6 e-tron has been confirmed to be arriving at a later date, packing even more performance and an aggressive styling makeover.

Order books are scheduled to open in the autumn, by which time we’ll have official pricing information.

Check out our review of the BMW i5 Touring to see what the A6 Avant e-tron will be up against…