2013 Audi A6

Audi remixes its midsize sedan with ingredients fresh and familiar, hoping to close the sales gap with class leaders BMW 5-Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class. The redesigned A6 will be larger but a bit lighter, which should improve mpg, performance, and handling.

Our crystal ball is still coming into focus, but there is reason to believe Audi will release the latest high-performance S6 as a 2013 model. A gas-electric hybrid may be in the cards as well.



What We Know About the 2013 Audi A6

A lot of things can happen in five years, especially in the auto business. Take the Audi A6. Last redesigned for a 2005-model U.S. debut, this premium-midsize car is now the oldest product in the four-rings line. Compared to the latest BMW 5-Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class, the 2011 A6 is a veritable senior citizen. But the A6 still has its charms, witness a solid 29.6-percent year-on-year U.S. sales gain in the first nine months of 2010.


Though Bavaria’s “other automaker” came within hailing distance of Lexus car sales during 2010 and actually beat Cadillac in cars through September, Audi sales in general and A6 sales in particular still lag way behind those of BMW and Mercedes. So you might expect the redesigned 2012 Audi A6 to be completely fresh and original in a bid to pump up the sales volume. And you’d be wrong.

Oh, the 2012 Audi A6 is new all right. It’s just that some of its newness comes from other Audis, namely the premium-compact A4, the sporty/performance A5/S5 line, the redesigned 2011 A8 premium-large sedanand, most of all, the 2012 A7 Sportback, Ingolstadt’s reply to Munich’s 5-Series Gran Turismo and Stuttgart’sCLS-Class. Again reversing usual industry practice, Audi is introducing the upmarket A7 ahead of its more conservatively styled and less-expensive sister. It’s already on sale in Europe and and the U.S. The new A6 sedan was unwrapped at the January 2011 Detroit Auto Show and is set to start American sale during summer 2011 as a 2012 entry. A revamped high-performance S6 should follow, possibly by early 2012 in the States.

Like other current U.S.-market Audi cars with longitudinal engines, the 2012 Audi A6 is designed on parent Volkswagen Group’s MLB “matrix.” More than a platform, MLB is a set of structural elements and under-skin components that can be mixed to create different vehicles and thus achieve big savings in development and manufacturing costs. The new A6 nose section, for example, is said to be virtually identical with the A7’s, and the two models will share major chassis components and some interior features.

The 2012 Audi A6 matches the A7 for wheelbase, but will differ slightly in other dimensions. That’s because it remains a conventional sedan with seating for 5, versus the sloped-roof A7 with its rear liftgate and 4-passenger package. A redesigned A6 Avant wagon is also in the works, but is not expected in the U.S., owing to the market’s general indifference to wagons. Against the 2005-11 A6, the redesign adds nearly 3 inches to wheelbase, subtracts about a half inch from overall length, and adds perhaps a half inch to height. The new A6 is also lighter than the old one, thanks to expanded use of aluminum for body panels and some inner parts like front-suspension members. Alas, for a base A6 the weight loss is on the order of 165 pounds.