Our spies were able to get a hold of the facelifted Audi RS6 for the first time while the super wagon was being tested at and around the Nürburgring. It may seem more of the same, but as the saying goes, the devil is in the details. The front fenders have been widened even further to incorporate vertical slats. It's unclear whether they're for aerodynamic purposes or to cool the brakes, but they're not there on the current model.
Moving at the back, the roof spoiler is bigger than before and seems to be adapted from the wild RS6 GTO concept. In fact, that one-off unveiled in late 2020 to celebrate 40 years of Quattro also had vented front fenders. Elsewhere, the front grille seems a tad smaller than before, unless the camouflage is playing tricks on us. Both bumpers have been updated, with the most obvious novelties being the reshaped front air intakes and the horizontal red reflectors at the rear.
2025 Audi RS6 Avant facelift first spy photos
As for the wheels, the prototype used the massive alloys we saw on the RS6 Performance introduced last November with an upgraded V8 making 621 horsepower (463 kilowatts) and 850 Newton-meters (625 pound-feet) of torque. The 22-inch wheels shaved off a combined 20 kilograms (44 pounds) over a conventional set of the same size courtesy of a high-tech forging-milling process. Much like the Performance, chances are this prototype has ceramic brakes.
Finished in what appears to be Audi Sport's signature Nardo Grey color, the test vehicle had a full roll cage you obviously won't find on the production model. We could be looking at the "more extreme" derivative announced last month by the performance division's boss Sebastian Grams: "We can go more extreme. We can make the car even stronger, even more performance, even sharper."
This upcoming facelift is likely going to be the last update for the pure ICE-powered RS6 Avant as Audi has already announced the next-gen model will be a plug-in hybrid. It's unclear whether it'll keep the V8 or downsize to a V6 but rest assured it won’t get a four-pot as the German luxury brand has ruled out doing four-cylinder RS cars.
Meanwhile, the updated current-gen RS6 should arrive sometime in 2024, after Audi facelifts the standard A6 Avant, the rugged A6 Allroad, and the warm S6 Avant.
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Sources: Automedia, SH Proshots