AUDI A6 E-TRON

Does this new electric executive car hit the spot in UK-market spec?

- MATT SAUNDERS

Whatever other decisions may be made in the busy corridors of power at Ingolstadt this week, we know one thing for sure: this is the new, exclusively electric Audi A6, and it has just touched down in the UK in right-hand-drive form.

Next month, however, another new Audi A6 will be unveiled, powered by a combustion engine.That car was set to be the new A7, but the shuffling of long-familiar model names has proven too much for the company's customer base and dealer network (see p9), so the bosses have had a rethink.

The A6 E-tron doesn't look much like an A6 to me, though. It looks like a car that could have had several proposed identities during the course of its gestation and I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Audi Axolotl was one of the more left-field ones. There's a certain similarity with the Q6 E-tron SUV but also a slightly strange, pumped-up, lizard-like look to it, which I'm not sure Audi's longstanding, design-loving clientele will instantly appreciate. At any rate, at least it isn't 'evolutionary'.

The A6 E-tron joins the ranks of the BMW i5, Mercedes-Benz EQE and Porsche Taycan, then, in the pursuit of the well-heeled executive's company car dollar.

Available as either a five-door Sportback or an Avant estate, it can be had with one motor or two; with either 75.8kWh or 94.9kWh of usable battery capacity; and from a price of £62,500.