All-New 2026 Audi A6: Refining a Sports Sedan Favorite

Competes with: BMW 5 Series, Genesis G80, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Volvo S90

Looks like: Audi’s E-Tron GT styling is making its way to internal-combustion models

Powertrain: 362-horsepower, 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged V-6 engine; seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission; all-wheel drive

Release date: Fall 2025

Audi’s brand-new A6 Sportback e-Tron will be arriving at dealerships shortly, but that’s not the electric vehicle we see when we look at the equally new gas-powered 2026 Audi A6. Instead, we see the svelte capstone of the brand’s electric lineup, the E-Tron GT, a car whose bold face looks right at home on the new mid-size gas burner.

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What Does the 2026 Audi A6 Look Like?

Beyond the wide grille and angular LED headlights, the 2026 A6 applies E-Tron design cues throughout its new sheet metal. A sharper crease in the rear fender bends toward the back of the car rather than the outgoing A6’s straight-edge fold. There’s a more organic flow in the front fenders, too, that blends well with Audi’s traditionally stoic, simple body sides.

Regardless of which electric Audi you see when looking at the new A6, it seems an awful lot like an EV to the air. Enjoying a drag coefficient of just 0.23, the 2026 A6 boasts the slipperiest shape of any internal-combustion Audi ever. Tall air curtains in the front bumper, a front spoiler and a wide rear diffuser help achieve that figure, as does the shape of the trunk lid, which is so stubby that the car almost appears to be a hatchback. It is not, although its 17.8 cubic feet of cargo volume (according to Audi’s measurements) nearly seems to belong to a hatch compared to the outgoing car’s claimed mere 13.7 cubic feet.

Exterior lighting being a point of pride for Audi, the new A6 offers up to seven customizable lighting signatures and optional daytime running lights comprising 48 LEDs apiece. Optional organic light-emitting diode taillights are made up of 198 segments and collected into eight digital panels per side. Polished aluminum brightwork is standard, but the available S Line styling package features dark matte chrome and a black grille.

What Lies Beneath

Measuring 196.5 inches from nose to tail, the new A6 is more than 2 inches longer than its predecessor, but it rides on the same 115.1-inch wheelbase and is a similar 74 inches wide. Audi offers three suspension setups, two with steel springs and one adaptive air suspension. Both the sport suspension and the air springs ride 0.8 inch lower than the standard configuration, with the air suspension capable of lowering an additional 0.4 inch in Dynamic mode.

A twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6 engine will be the 2026 A6’s sole engine offering at launch. (The new A6 will be available as a mild hybrid elsewhere in the world, but not in the U.S.) That’s the same basic package as the outgoing car’s optional engine, but the new model benefits from new variable-geometry turbochargers, improved intercooling and revised tuning. Its 362 horsepower and 406 pounds-feet of torque represent increases of 27 hp and 37 pounds-feet.

Behind the V-6 again sits a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. Quattro all-wheel drive remains standard and can completely decouple the rear axle when conditions permit to maximize fuel efficiency. It can also route as much as 70% of the engine’s torque to the torque-vectoring rear differential in spirited driving. Under those conditions, drivers will appreciate that Audi has stiffened the A6’s entire steering linkage, from the axle to the steering wheel, for greater feedback and more responsiveness. Rear-wheel steering is also available, shrinking the sedan’s turning circle by more than 3 feet.

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What Features Does the 2026 A6 Have?

Following the current trend, there has been a complete digital takeover of the A6’s dashboard. The standard setup consists of a single curved display formed from seamlessly joining an 11.9-inch digital instrument cluster and a 14.5-inch touchscreen. A 10.9-inch passenger screen is available, as is a head-up display that Audi says appears 85% larger than the one in the outgoing car. Controls on the steering wheel allow the driver to customize the display and adjust a greater range of vehicle systems without taking their eyes off the road.

Luxury touches available in the new A6 include an electrochromic panoramic roof with six individually dimmable segments, as well as four-zone automatic climate control, soft-close doors that automatically latch to prevent slamming, and a 20-speaker Bang & Olufsen audio system with front-seat head-restraint speakers that can direct navigation prompts and phone calls exclusively to the driver’s seat.

Audi says it improved sound insulation in the new-generation A6 by 30%, in part thanks to new engine and transmission mounts. There’s also a layer of noise-absorbing foam in the standard 19-inch tires, as well as in the available 20s and 21s. Acoustic glazing is not only available for the front windows, but the rear-seat glass, too.

Release Date and Pricing

The 2026 Audi A6 will go on sale in the second half of 2025. Full details, including pricing, will be available closer to the start of sales. With the optional V-6, the 2025 model starts at $63,895, so a base price in the mid- to high-$60,000s seems likely. Audi will launch the new sedan with a limited-production Edition One, sporting a brown exterior with black accents and 21-inch wheels.

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