Audi's New Car Offensive Starts Strong With 8th-gen A6

For a car stuck in a difficult-to-please mid-section of the luxury sedan market, the A6 needed the changes it has gotten

- S. Muralidhar

Audi’s full-size family sedan A6 was in a bit of an odd position both in terms of size and price. Positioned in between the A4 and A8 should be a good place for buyers that are looking to get the combination of a driver’s car and a chauffeured one. But, the previous A6s have lacked a unique character and design identity that set them apart. And even though their equipment levels were higher than many competitors, getting to an aggressive price was also an issue.

Over the last two years, Audi has been busy tackling the diesel gate scandal and a few internal problems, including big changes necessitated from the transition to new powertrains. Those were the reasons for the lull in its product rollout plans globally and the India ops were, obviously, equally affected. Finally, next year we will see Audi bounce back and take on the competition with new generation versions of many of its model lines, starting with the Q8 in January. But to give us all a teaser of what is to come, Audi launched the new A6 a few weeks ago. This eighth generation model is quite a significant evolution outside and in cabin compared to the previous-gen, making it much more attractive to buyers looking for options in the full-size sedan category.

Design