SPY PICS: Audi S7 breaks cover

The production version of the Audi A7 is still some months away, with the model not expected to debut until October's Paris Motor Show, but the hotter S7 variant of Ingolstadt's swoopy four-door coupe has already been snapped testing at the Nurburgring. Master spy photographers, Carparazzi, caught the tweaked model just weeks after they spied the A7 undergoing cold-weather tests.

Based on the Sportback Concept, first seen at the Detroit Motor Show last year, the A7 is believed to share its underpinnings with its sedan sibling, the A6, but will compete with top-shelf market rivals including the Mercedes-Benz CLS, Porsche Panamera and Aston Martin Rapide.

Sporting larger air intakes, bigger wheels with lower-profile hoops, meatier brakes and quad exhaust pipes, the pictures strongly hint that the A7 range will feature an ‘S' variant from the get-go.

The Audi S7 could employ any number of Audi engines, with speculation split between the four-ring brand's new supercharged 3.0-litre V6 or naturally-aspirated 4.2-litre V8.

Seeing an S7 variant out in the open also lends credence to rumours Audi is preparing an even hotter RS7 variant of its sleek new Sportback, the model tipped as a favourite to share the stage with the A7 in Paris.

If those rumours are true, the show-stopping Audi RS7 could mean three A7 models will share the stage in Paris, the uber-quick range-topper likely to feature the same 5.0-litre 432kW V10 engine found in the Audi R8 supercar.

-- with Carparazzi