If there’s one OEM organization that knows how to do attitude, it’s Audi Sport. While BMW M and Mercedes AMG have often struggled to strike the right balance between understated and in-yer-face, often inadvertently forcing customers into the arms of the aftermarket to get their cars to look right, Audi’s RS cars always push the right aesthetic buttons. For models like the RS4 and RS6, huge swollen fenders have become an expected part of the repertoire, and these spy shots prove that philosophy isn’t about to change. The swollen front fenders feature a pair of vertical vents just ahead of the front doors that could be there to let high-pressure air (or just brake heat) escape from the wheel housings, and while this prototype’s rear arches are simply tacked on for testing purposes and don’t represent the final shape of the fenders, they do give us an idea of how humongously wide the rear track is.
These images of the successor to today’s
RS4, which will switch to the RS5 name so that Audi can free up even numbers
for EVs, also show large intakes in the RS-specific front bumper, as well as
the segmented DRLs and flush door handles fitted to the regular 2025 A5 Avant
we’ve scooped previously.
Twin oval exhaust tailpipes confirm the
RS5 will still feature combustion power, but the charging flap visible on the
passenger-side rear fender tells us that the hot compact wagon is switching to
plug-in power. That’s something its AMG C63 arch rival has already done, but
while the AMG downsized from a V8 to an inline four, the Audi will retain
twin-turbo, 2.9-liter V6 power. And since Audi’s RS team never likes to be
outdone in any spec-sheet face-off, we suspect it will have to deliver as much
muscle as the 671 hp C63, or at least come close, by the time its
electric motor’s horsepower has been accounted for.
If it does, that will represent a giant
leap over the 444 hp served up by today’s RS4. It will also leave
BMW’s 503 hp non-hybrid M3 Touring looking more than a little
undernourished until it gets its own hybrid powertrain several years from now.
