Will the next Audi RS6 be V6 or V8? PHEV eight-cylinder firming for ‘C9’ wagon and sedan, electric version in doubt

Debate is raging in the speedy-Audi-fan neighborhood about whether the drawing shut ‘C9’ RS6 will retain its V8 engine as a change of adopting the unusual ‘B10’ RS5’s six-cylinder, fling-in hybrid (PHEV) powertrain.

Printed final month, the unusual RS5’s 470kW/825Nm 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6/PHEV gadget has more allege than the fresh 441kW/800Nm 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 RS5.

Despite the effectiveness of the V6 fling-in hybrid, the next-technology RS6 appears space to wait on its eight-cylinder supremacy — nonetheless indulge in the smaller RS5, this is capable of maybe well be supplemented by PHEV energy.

Bentley’s 1000Nm V8 PHEV is the glaring candidate for subsequent RS6

Audi is a member of Volkswagen’s ‘Imprint Neighborhood Progressive’ alongside Bentley.

Which plan Ingolstadt has reasonably easy entry to Bentley’s V8 fling-in hybrid technology.

Dubbed the ‘Ultra-Efficiency Hybrid’, the Bentley gadget blends the Audi RS6’s 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 with what appears to be a same 140kW/450Nm electrical motor to the RS5.

Total outputs for the Bentley V8 PHEV gadget are a whopping 575kW/1000Nm.

Such sizable figures would retain a subsequent-technology RS6 V8 hybrid properly ahead of the headline figures of the unusual RS5.

Audi says RS customers select step-by-step electrification

Insiders at Audi worth that the V8 is a central section of the appeal of the RS6.

There is an understanding that precious and properly-told RS-mannequin consumers must no longer be compelled into technological alternate suggestions they’re no longer ready for.

Likewise, the sensitivity of downsizing cylinder depend is properly-understood inner Audi Sport. Division chiefs rigorously watched AMG debut, then shuffle far off from, the four-cylinder C63 hybrid.

As with the RS5, Audi’s resolution to preserving precise RS customers whereas moreover meeting no longer easy unusual automobile emissions felony guidelines in Europe (and markets indulge in Australia) is to add the PHEV component to familiar, sizable-displacement powertrains.

“We wish to copy that for a bunch of oldsters, it is critical to head step-by-step,” Audi Sport managing director Rolf Michl told Chasing Cars at a pre-drive of the unusual RS5.

“We gain, in our eyes, the correct aggregate [with [HEV] of a really emotional automobile, nonetheless moreover the variation of going fully restful.”

New RS PHEV systems prick CO2 whereas powering drift mode

In the RS5, the fling-in hybrid gadget slashes CO2 to round 100g/km — compliant with Euro- and Australian-style regulations — whereas moreover boosting energy and feeding an electrified rear transaxle for a brand unusual ‘Dynamic Torque Administration’ aim.

We requested whether the electromechanical torque vectoring gadget, made most likely by the PHEV’s 400-volt architecture, might maybe well work with a V8 engine.

“Technically, sure,” stated Audi Sport head of learn and constructing Steffen Bamberger.

Requested whether it might well actually maybe well maybe gain its procedure into totally different merchandise, Audi Sport boss Michl stated: “it is best to be versatile.”

Sedan RS6 becoming a member of Avant, nonetheless planned EV mannequin is beneath a cloud

There are a pair of totally different surprises in retailer for the next-technology RS6.

First, whereas the conventional Avant role wagon body style will take into accout that be retained, a sedan version is space to rejoin the RS6 lineup for the first time since 2010.

Secondly, whereas Audi had in the origin planned for the unusual RS6 to head fully-electrical — the RS7 badge used to be to beautify the hybrid version — the RS6 EV is now in doubt.

The very soft global market for high-waste EVs has triggered debate inner Audi about whether to originate the RS6 in both PHEV and battery electrical guises.

“We are if truth be told reflecting in regards to the target groups, at the side of [CEO] Gernot Döllner,” Michl stated.

“Make certain that if we originate a product in future, this is capable of maybe well all the time match the target crew — we know what folks are ready for.”

That cautious attain used to be echoed by R&D boss Bamberger.

“If [a proposed model] doesn’t fascinate folks, we won’t originate it.”

The reason is easy: Audi would no longer select undesirable autos piling up on dealership forecourts.

“It is far even more expensive if we now gain got one thing that no person wants,” Michl stated.