On July 31, the Audi A6 e-tron was officially unveiled, and the new car is available in two versions, Sportback and Avant, and thanks to the blessing of the PPE luxury pure electric platform, it gives full play to the advantages of the electric drive architecture, and shows leading advantages in the core technologies of pure electric vehicles such as power efficiency, cruising range and charging performance. For the luxury pure electric mid-size car market, its emergence will undoubtedly promote new progress in the same market.
There is no doubt that Audi has always had a distinctive identity in terms of design style, and perhaps you are still immersed in the new Audi A5 family, which was unveiled not long ago, especially for the sporty atmosphere. Now, the Audi A6 e-tron is now offering a stunning new design in the all-electric market, especially in many details of the innovative features, which deserve to be appreciated closely.
As the first low-profile model to be equipped with a PPE platform, the Audi A6 e-tron has a completely new look in terms of exterior design. Different from the calm impression left by the previous "A6", the A6 e-tron continues the design concept of the concept car, especially the perfect interpretation of the body proportions, which not only enhances the design aesthetics, but also brings excellent aerodynamic performance.
The front face is designed with a very visual expression, very close to the design of the concept car, with slender daytime running lights, a wide grille and a large black panel forming a more self-expressing personality of the Audi A6 e-tron, and the flat design and many horizontal elements are collocated, making it look technological and futuristic. As the leading sign of the "lamp factory", the new car headlights also adopt a three-dimensional design, and can be equipped with digital LED daytime running lights.
The side lines further enhance the sporty stance of the Audi A6 e-tron, both on the Sportback and Avant models. In particular, the raised "quattro blisters" emphasise the quattro power-driven nature with muscular lines. The slender lines give the Sportback a sporty look, with a smoother, more natural transition at the rear.
In terms of rear design, the new car is equipped with second-generation digital OLED taillights as standard, which supports dynamic digital light signatures, and adds an interactive light function, and the four-ring logo at the rear can also be lit up for more recognizable results. The striking spoiler lip is the finishing touch of the Sportback, while the electronic exterior mirrors and electronically controlled door handles bring a sense of technology, combined with the low-drag wheels and many aerodynamic designs throughout the car, so that the Sportback version has a drag coefficient of just 0.21, the lowest drag coefficient ever achieved by an Audi model.
The Audi A6 Avant e-tron model is also characterised by a very flat roofline, with a sharply angled D-pillar design, while the aluminium texture trim that extends from the A-pillar to the roof spoiler is a distinctive and highly recognizable feature of the Avant model. In terms of aerodynamics, the Avant model is equipped with an additional diffuser spoiler to compensate for the fundamental difference between the Avant and Sportback models due to the different body profiles, and its drag coefficient of 0.24 is also excellent.
The Audi S6 e-tron is also available in the Sportback and Avant variants, with silver accents on details such as the front grille, air deflectors, mirrors, windows and rear diffuser, further emphasizing its sporty positioning. 20-inch wheels are standard and 21-inch wheels are also available as an option.
In terms of interior design, the Audi A6 e-tron adopts the latest design style of the family, and the soft enveloping design is more intimate and comfortable. The Audi MMI panoramic display, consisting of an 11.9-inch Audi virtual cockpit display and a 14.5-inch central touchscreen, is undoubtedly the focus of interaction throughout the interior, with OLED technology and a curved design, as well as an optional 10.9-inch MMI co-pilot display with active privacy mode and augmented reality head-up display.
In terms of smart technology, Audi is also bringing a smarter interactive experience through continuous innovation, with its infotainment system using Android in-car system as the operating system, a new display and operation concept, voice control functions have been further enhanced, and it is equipped with a first-generation Audi connect connected service and the standard upgraded e-tron path planning function, which supports a wide range of application extensions and OTA update functions.
In terms of luxury equipment, the optional panoramic glass sunroof achieves seamless switching of transparency through polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) technology. Audi's iconic Bang & Olufsen sound system has 20 speakers with up to 830 watts of power and headrest speakers.
The excellent range and charging performance are undoubtedly the focus of the Audi A6 e-tron series, which will further leverage the advantages of the PPE luxury pure electric platform. The Audi A6 e-tron offers a variety of powertrain options and comes with a 100 kWh lithium-ion battery pack. The A6 Sportback and Avant e-tron performance versions have a maximum system power of 270 kW and rear-wheel drive, with a time of 5.4 seconds to 100 km/h and a top speed of 210 km/h, corresponding to a range of 750 km and 720 km, respectively.
The Audi S6 e-tron system delivers 370 kW of power and 405 kW in launch control mode, and the quattro all-wheel drive system accelerates to 100 km/h in 3.9 seconds and has a top speed of 240 km/h, with a range of 670 km in the Sportback and 640 km in the Avant version.
In terms of energy replenishment efficiency, thanks to the standard 800-volt charging technology and a maximum DC charging power of 270 kW, the Audi A6 e-tron can increase the range by 310 km in just 10 minutes. After about 21 minutes of charging, the battery level can be increased from 10% to 80%. It is worth mentioning that the new car can also support parallel charging at the 400-volt charging station, and the maximum power of 135 kilowatts can be achieved by automatically splitting the 800-volt battery into two batteries with the same voltage.
The Audi A6 e-tron is equipped with an optional adaptive air suspension with a new damping concept, four different levels of height adjustment, and an "efficiency mode" that lowers the vehicle by 20 mm depending on the speed of the vehicle to improve the car's aerodynamics and range. The Audi S6 e-tron, on the other hand, uses an all-wheel drive system with a rear axle focus to optimise the driving dynamics of the vehicle through highly variable torque distribution. In terms of driver assistance, the Audi A6 e-tron also adopts an enhanced adaptive driver assistance system, which helps to improve the comfort of travel, especially long-distance driving. At the same time, the information fusion based on high-definition maps and cloud cluster data can also bring a better driving experience to assisted driving.
With the overseas debut of the Audi A6 e-tron, Audi has further accelerated its efforts in the global electric vehicle market, but in the face of the fierce competition in the domestic mid-size car market, the Audi A6 e-tron will also bring new choices to domestic consumers through the design of the local design in China. The two variants, the new PPE platform, the dynamic low-drag body design, the MMI panoramic display, and the excellent performance of energy consumption and range all give the Audi A6 e-tron a complete refresh from the inside out, which further demonstrates Audi's accelerated layout and market ambitions in the electric vehicle market. Perhaps it will not be too long to wait, and the domestic version of the model will also meet with domestic consumers.