Audi Is Working on a New RS5 Performance Station Wagon

The Audi RS5 Coupe, due in 2024, was a super coupe that looked good and didn’t pretend to be much more.

Now, Audi has hinted that a new RS5 could be in the works, but in plug-in hybrid form and in the biggest segment of them all, as a station wagon.

According to a since-deleted LinkedIn post spotted by Carscoops, the new RS5 will be Audi’s “first performance plug-in hybrid.” Audi later confirmed the news in the form of a teaser image, which shows an RS5 Avant. The automaker said a full reveal could be a few days away.

A plug-in hybrid RS5 will take on the likes of BMW’s M5 and Mercedes’ AMG C63, both plug-in hybrid performance cars that have also gained weight with the addition of power. For purists, that will be the biggest downside of the RS5-going PHEV, and a challenge for Audi engineers, who will need to create a car with the driving dynamics of a sports car in a package that weighs more than two tonnes.

The third-generation RS5 was powered by a 2.9-liter V-6 engine that made 444 horsepower, going from zero to 60 in 3.5 seconds, and the PHEV version will likely make more power, perhaps approaching or even surpassing the AMG C63’s 671 horsepower. Zero to 60 marks should be boosted.

The previous version of the RS5 had a V-8 that was naturally aspirated, made 450 horsepower, and revved to 8,300 RPM, which sounds like music. The twin-turbo V-6 in the recent RS5 looked like nothing in comparison, but it’s still fondly remembered as a super coupe that was one of the last of a certain kind of car. The PHEV version’s name will spell good for its peers at BMW and Mercedes, but “performance plug-in hybrid” doesn’t have the same resonance, especially since it’s not trying to be track-oriented. The Audi RS5’s reputation for being stealthily powerful, though, should remain.