Audi Hints Electric A6 Avant Is Coming

Audi surprised just about everyone last month when it revealed theA6 e-tronconcept. Riding on the new Premium Platform Electric (PPE) architecture, the conceptlooks relatively close to being production-ready. Audi says the first PPE-based EV will debut next year, but we're not convinced it'll be the production-spec A6 e-tron. There's a greater chance it'll be theQ6 e-tron crossover.

In any case, the A6 e-tron will arrive sooner or later, but some are still wondering why Audi opted to call it an A6. After all, the standard ICE-powered A6 is still on sale and isn't going anywhere just yet.

Speaking to Autocar, Audi's development chief for the PPE platform, Johannes Arneth, stated the following: "We really wanted to stress that it belongs to the A6 model family. The A7 is a very successful derivative of the A6 family, and it's independent enough for its own name. But with the derivatives that could come later, the A6 seemed to us to be the more logical choice."

So that explains why Audi didn't utilize the A7 moniker for the concept despite it sharing that four-door coupe body style. But there was something else Arneth mentioned that really caught our attention: the very real possibility of an A6 e-tron wagon, aka an Avant in Audi-speak.

We're already clamoring for an all-electric Audi wagon, evidenced by ourexclusive rendering of the RS6 e-tron Avant. Of course, the regular A6 and RS6 Avant don't utilize PPE and it wouldn't make sense for Audi to retrofit either one with an all-electric powertrain. Technically, it may not even be possible.

But eventually, the RS6 Avant will be retired and having an all-electric replacement ready to go would allow Audi to immediately fill the gap. There's every reason to believe the A6 e-tron will debut first as a fastback sedan but the Avant version probably won't be too far behind.