Preview: 2026 Audi A6 E-Tron Is a Sleek, Powerful EV
The midsized four-door sedan uses a new electric platform shared with Porsche
With the Audi A6 E-Tron, the German automaker pivots from SUVs and takes another shot across the bow at Tesla as it focuses on the growing luxury sedan electric vehicle segment.
Following the Audi Q6 E-Tron, the A6 E-Tron is now the third model to use the Premium Platform Electric (PPE) chassis developed with Porsche for use throughout the Volkswagen Group, including on the Q6 and the Porsche Macan Electric.
- Audi A6 E-Tron: CR's Take Outside Inside What Drives It Active Safety and Driver Assistance
CR's Take
The new Audi A6 E-Tron is the automaker’s next step toward making a third of its lineup all-electric by 2025 and phasing out internal combustion engine models by 2033.
But the A6 E-Tron faces some strong competition with long driving ranges, such as the Tesla Model S, which is rated by the EPA at more than 400 miles, as well as the Mercedes-Benz EQE, which covered an impressive 332 miles in our 70-mph highway range testing. Even the BMW i5 M60 performance version, which has an EPA range estimate of 248 miles, was able to cover 283 miles in our test.
Still, it’s clear from these early images that the A6 E-Tron has many of the impressive virtues we have found in recent models we’ve tested, such as a stylish cabin, roomy interior, and large text and images on the touchscreen.
Photo: Audi Photo: Audi
Outside
Hewing closely to the A6 E-Tron Concept, which was shown in 2021, the production A6 E-Tron doesn’t break any major new ground style-wise. The exterior of the new car is long and sleek up top, with a bulkiness toward the bottom that is unlike any of Audi’s traditional sedans. This design bridges the brand’s electric SUVs and the muscular E-Tron GT.
Curiously, Audi has gone the opposite way of German rivals BMW and Mercedes-Benz. While those two automakers’ EVs have a somewhat harmonious design language, the A6 E-Tron’s front end looks quite different from the (admittedly older) E-Tron GT, as well as the Q4, Q8, and newly introduced Q6 E-Tron EVs.
Photo: Audi Photo: Audi
A wide, body-colored six-sided faux grille with the four Audi rings dominates the front end, surrounded by mesh panels and open air intakes on the side and below, as well as sensors for different advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). Two incredibly slim LED headlight units sit at the outer edges of the front end.
The hood has sculpted ridges that sit prominently on the outer edges, creating channels that flow into the tops of the front fenders and end just aft of where the windshield pillars and rearview mirrors meet.
Both sets of doors have flush handles that require the passenger to grab and press a recessed release pad to unlatch the doors and pull them open. Although they’re not as easy to use as a traditional handle, we prefer them to the flush handles found on Tesla, Lucid, and other luxury EVs. Like the other E-Tron models, the A6 E-Tron has a contrasting-color scoop at the bottom of the doors—featuring an embossed E-Tron logotype—that blends into the aerodynamic side skirts.
The sleek roofline slopes down toward the tail of the A6 E-Tron, similar to the styling of Audi’s A5 and A7 Sportback models, in addition to the Mercedes-Benz EQE and EQS sedans. At the rear, a lighted bar connects the taillights, which sit high up on each fender. Above the bar sits another set of Audi rings, which are illuminated. When viewed from directly behind, the A6 E-Tron’s rear window is very wide but has a shallow viewing area, in line with the styling of most four-door liftback sedans. The tail is finished by an aggressively angled lip spoiler.
While European A6 E-Tron models will be available with super-slim virtual exterior mirrors that use a small screen on each door panel to display vehicles, pedestrians, and/or cyclists to the side of the car, U.S. versions will get traditional glass mirrors.
Inside
“He who has the biggest screen wins” seems to be the order of the day among new EVs. Like the Q6 E-Tron, the driver is greeted with a large screen, this one an 11.9-inch Audi virtual cockpit that curves and blends into the 14.5-inch touchscreen that sits high up on the center dash. When combined with the optional 10.9-inch front passenger display, the A6 E-Tron features what Audi calls “a digital stage” that effectively spans the full width of the dash. This secondary screen allows the passenger to stream video content, access navigation, and even search for electric chargers. It has a privacy function to prevent that screen from being visible to the driver and causing distraction.
The Android Automotive OS operating system allows for over-the-air updates to the infotainment system’s content, which can be modified via the Audi Application Store. This is part of the infotainment system and doesn’t require a phone to make updates. The system has a self-learning voice assistant that can control various vehicle functions. Integration with ChatGPT allows the driver and passengers to use natural language with queries that the basic voice assistant can’t handle. Audi states that ChatGPT interactions are deleted after processing, and vehicle data is not shared with the AI system. We’ll be sure to have our vehicle privacy team delve into the terms and conditions as soon as we purchase one for our own test program.
Of note, the last Audi infotainment system we tested was rather straightforward and user-friendly. This new version appears to have an updated layout.
Photo: Audi Photo: Audi
The rest of the interior is almost ho-hum when compared with the “digital stage.” The driver is greeted with a large steering wheel that has been flattened at the top and bottom—though nowhere near the shape of the Lincoln Nautilus’ wheel. Flush, touch-sensitive controls sit on the side spokes of the wheel, with a seat heat control at the six o’clock position.
The center controls feature a gear selector that is similar to what’s found in the current E-Tron SUVs, with a start/stop button and audio volume control in front. A large, covered cup holder sits on the right-hand side of the console. A padded center armrest appears to cover a storage area between the seats, and the front of the center console has dual USB-C connections and a space for a mobile phone that likely will have an available Qi charging pad.
Heating and cooling is through slim vents, which sit mid-dash at the extreme left and right, and below the dash at the center. Thankfully, they appear to have manual adjustments, unlike the current trend of using the touchscreen to fine-tune the airflow.
The driver has a panel mounted ahead of the door armrest that controls functions such as mirror adjustments, lighting, and door-locking, while more traditional window controls sit further back.
Piano black is used throughout the cabin for control panels and other non-comfort surfaces, and the standard seats and armrests are finished with soft materials. While the S6 E-Tron version features leather sports seats, a leather-free interior will be offered on the A6 E-Tron.
Finally, the optional panoramic glass roof features electrically switchable glass components that can change the panel from transparent to opaque at the press of a button.
Photo: Audi Photo: Audi
What Drives It
Three versions of the A6 E-Tron will be available for the U.S. market, all of which use a 100-kilowatt-hour battery with a 9.6-kW onboard charger for 240-volt/40-amp at-home charging. The A6 E-Tron is capable of charging at 800 volts which, Audi says, allows the car to go from a 10 percent battery state of charge to 80 percent in 21 minutes.
In the rear-wheel-drive A6 E-Tron, this battery powers a single 375-hp electric motor, which gives the car an estimated 5.2-second 0-to-60 mph acceleration time and an electronically limited top speed of 130 mph. Range is EPA-estimated at 392 miles.
The all-wheel-drive A6 E-Tron Quattro gets two motors, front and rear, for a total of 456 hp. It has an estimated 4.3-second 0-to-60 mph time and is also limited to 130 mph top speed. Range for the AWD version is 377 miles.
The top of the line is the S6 E-Tron, which has a 543-hp dual-motor setup with launch control. It has a claimed 3.7-second 0-to-60 mph time and an electronically limited top speed of 149 mph. Its range is EPA-estimated at 324 miles.
Volkswagen Group has said it would implement Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) connector on vehicles starting in the 2025 model year, and that presumably includes the A6 E-Tron. The 800-volt battery pack is able to effectively split itself into two 400-volt packs while charging at lower-voltage chargers such as a Tesla Supercharger, which improves compatibility and charging speeds.
Photo: Audi Photo: Audi
Active Safety and Driver Assistance
All versions of the A6 E-Tron will come with a full suite of ADAS systems, including automatic emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian detection, AEB that works at highway speed, blind spot warning, rear cross traffic warning, adaptive cruise control, and driver monitoring for distraction and drowsiness.
According to Audi, a new feature called adaptive driving assistant plus uses the ADAS systems along with high-resolution map data to “support the driver when accelerating, braking, maintaining speed and the set distance, and with lane guidance." This would allow the A6 E-Tron to follow a virtual route through a broad speed range and in traffic jams.
