Audi A6 future in Australia under evaluation

There is no guarantee the new-generation Audi A6 large luxury passenger car family will return to Australia with either new-age e-tron EV or traditional internal combustion powertrains.

The battery-electric e-tron was revealed as a Sportback and Avant (wagon) in 2024, while the orthodox ICE A6 petrol, diesel and PHEV A6 sedan and Avant have been unveiled this year.

“They’re [A6] under evaluation for the Australian market … as well as the e-tron variants,” Audi Australia National Product Manager, Matthew Dale, told carsales.

“We’re evaluating both of them.”

Asked how likely a green light was for Australian sale, Dale deflected: “I couldn’t even tell you at this point because we’re in the early days of the evaluation.”

The A6 badge is one of the most storied in Audi’s Australian history, if not quite ever capable of going toe-to-toe with the arch-rival BMW 5 Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class in terms of sales.

The A6 first arrived in Australia in 1994 and has progressed through four generations since then. The outgoing C8 A6 (from $103,484 plus ORCs) and its S6 sports model derivative ($168,015 plus ORCs) are both still listed on the Audi Australia public website.

The A6 Avant was dropped in 2014 but the A6 allroad diesel SUV ($126,484 plus ORCs) continues to be offered.

According to VFACTS, Audi has sold 101 A6s in Australia in the first six months of 2025, down from 110 in the same period of 2024. Benz has sold 297 E-Class and BMW 173 5 Series in the same period.

But the entire luxury passenger car market has been impacted by the growth of luxury SUV sales over the last decade.

That clearly is where Audi Australia is having trouble making the business case add up for either electric or ICE A6. Audi has sold 1659 Q5s, 787 Q7s and 218 Q8s so far in 2025.

“The large passenger vehicle market has declined over time in the Australian market,” said Dale. “The growth in large SUVs, as an example, is the juxtaposition to that.

“However, we evaluate every product that’s on offer from Europe and whether or not it’s fit for the Australian market and if there’s a consumer or a buyer there and whether or not there’s a positive business case behind that.

“Then basically post that evaluation we make decisions on whether or not that model comes to the Australian market.”

The evaluation that has just kicked off splits the A6 and A6 e-tron into separate studies and then sub-divides them again into body styles and powertrains.

“We do every model in its separate evaluation and the main reason for that is so we can really focus on the core segment, the core customer and whether or not it’s a strong business case as well,” explained Dale.

“Because the big thing is … making sure the model portfolio at Audi – whilst it’s very broad [and] we speak to a broad set of customers – is fit for the Australian market.

“So we look at say A6 ICE. We’ll look at body styles and powertrains and then separately we have a look at A6 e-tron in terms of body styles, powertrains as well.

“So two separate business cases and two separate evaluations from Australia.”

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