meet the next big thing in electrification of Maui. It's the all-new A6 e-tron Sportback, and as we come to expect from the brand, it's chock-full of technology. So let's dig right in and see what's new. Now, at its core, the A6 and S6 are based on the premium platform electric Audi's dedicated electric vehicle platform that you'll also find underpinning the Q6 e-tron that debuted earlier this year. Only this one uses the low floor configuration, as opposed to the high floor SUV configuration on that previous vehicle. And while it'd be easy to dismiss this as just a sedan version of that car, there are a lot of features on this vehicle that debut with it that make it unique. The A6 presents as a handsome, sleekly styled sedan. But if you look closely, and especially if you compare it to the combustion-powered A5 that debuted just a few weeks ago, you'll notice that the EV's proportions are a bit taller overall, thanks to the battery pack beneath the floor. Audi's designers

have had to employ a few visual tricks to keep their sport back looking well sporty. Now one of my favorite new design elements here is the way that Audi has split up the headlamp to design. You've got the daytime running lamps up here with the digital light signature, but your actual projectors are hidden down here in the vehicle's mask. This is a trick that you typically only see in SUVs, but here it's allowed Audi to create a look that is lower, sleeker, and much sportier looking for it. Now one of the ways that Audi differentiates its battery vehicles from its combustion vehicles is with this element here, drawing attention to the fact that there is a battery underneath the vehicle. You've got this sort of contrasting blade element. We saw this in the Q6 e-tron, but here on the A6 and S6, we see that Audi actually takes this design and passes it through the wheel, wrapping around the vehicle and integrating the rear reflector. Its 100 kW battery pack is good for an estimated 466 miles on

Europe's WLTP cycle. Now, what that means on the more stringent EPA cycle remains to be seen. The 800-volt architecture is capable of up to 270 kW charging at an appropriate station, which adds up to around 21 minutes to go from a 10 to 80% charge, or around 190 miles added per 10 minutes plugged in. Should you find yourself at a 400V DC station, which are fairly common, the battery can split into two and charge as a parallel pair of 400-volt packs. In this split bank configuration, expect around 135 kW charging, which is still pretty decent. The A6 will arrive powered by a 270 kW electric motor on the rear axle, that's from 362 horsepower, good for a 5.4-second sprint to 62 mph. If you feel the need for more speed, the S6 steps up to a dual motor all-wheel-driven setup with a 370 kW total, around 496 horsepower. For contact fire up launch control to temporary boost to 405 kW for a 0 to 62

Sprint in 3.9 seconds. Now, when the A6 reaches the states, it'll arrive in this sporty configuration, which means a power liftback design but a more sedan-like silhouette. Now, while we're back here, we can take a look at the second generation of Audi's digital OLED taillights. You've got eight different themes to choose from, and you can configure those in a dashboard display. There will be matching themes going along with the front so you can make sure that your A6 doesn't look too much like your neighbors. Also, we have available for the first time ever in an Audi an illuminated OLED 4 range logo. Now, if this dashboard configuration is looking familiar, that's because the A6 rocks the same dual display infotainment setup as the Q6 that debuted earlier. That includes an 11.9 in digital instrument cluster and a 14.5 in center display, both rocking OLED technology and bonded to a single curved panel. Optionally, there's a 10.9 in passenger

display making this a triple screen threat. That's a lot of cool technologies that are available in the A6 and S6, but I don't want to ignore the elephant in the room, and that's a lot of the technologies that aren't coming stateside. Starting with this guy now, in certain markets, the A6 Eon will be offered with Audi's second-generation virtual exterior mirrors. Small camera pods that feed rearview and blind spot information to two small screens located at the extremes of the dashboard. US requirements will require optical mirrors, so that's what we'll get here, which is a shame since using the smaller cameras would further improve aerodynamics. We also don't get the animated themes for the digital OLED taillights, which are similar to the ones that we saw on the Q6 E-tron, though we will still get walk-up welcome animations when parked and eight customizable static light signature themes for the headlights and taillights, which is still pretty sweet, I guess. And speaking of lighting, we also won't see

Audi's Matrix LED headlamps in their full glory. These use vision technology to dim sections of the headlights' throw to prevent dazzling oncoming traffic without sacrificing overall illumination. Now that's a feature that's been coming soon for multiple generations of Audi vehicles at this point, so I don't know, write your legislators if you really care about getting it. And finally, we're not getting the slick VA configuration which you see here because we Americans don't buy enough wagons to make the import juice worth the squeeze. So if you really need more utility than the Sportback's cargo can offer, Audi will be more than happy to sell you a Q60 Tron SUV instead, which I reckon will probably be the larger volume seller anyway. Now, as this 26 Tron was nice, I'm as much of a fan of a nice SUV as the next guy, but as a big fan of sedans, I'm super excited about this one. Be sure to head over to cnet.com where we've got even more details about the new A6 and S6 Sportback.

2025 Audi A6, S6 E-Tron Debut: Meet Audi's Longest Range EV

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