Audi RS5 spied testing: V6 hybrid power and over 500bhp expected
The next Audi RS5 is set to take the place of the RS4 Avant and RS5 Sportback, as Audi’s hot petrol-powered exec
The next Audi RS5 has been spied testing ahead of an expected 2025 reveal, sporting all the Audi Sport calling cards including aggressive front and rear bumpers, big box arches and crucially, exhaust pipes.
Yes, the RS5 represents the very tip of Audi’s twin-prong powertrain attack, with odd-numbered cars going internal combustion and even-numbered cars being dedicated EVs. As such, the A5 and S5 take the place of the A4 and S4, meaning the RS5 – spied here in saloon form – will take the place of the Audi RS4 Avant and RS5 Sportback.
Just because internal combustion is the focus for the RS5, doesn’t mean electrification won’t have a role. In fact, the Audi RS5 is expected to be a full-on plug-in hybrid, with a battery and electric motor augmenting the familiar 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6, which alone in the 1750kg Audi RS4 produced 444bhp.
Power and performance should be suitably spectacular, enough to cancel out the inevitable added weight of a PHEV system by comparison to the 503bhp BMW M3 and M3 Touring. For context, if it gains 300kg in weight, it’ll need somewhere in the region of 520bhp to match the old RS4’s power to weight ratio.
Exactly how that power is metered out is yet to be revealed, though we suspect a single electric motor will feature between the engine and gearbox, like on the Bentley Flying Spur Hybrid. Incidentally, that car also features an electrified version of this engine, for a 536bhp total system output.
The styling looks very Audi RS, with those anabolic extremities and elements borrowed even from the extreme RS6 GT, like those arch vents. Strange for an RS is the fact the oval exhausts are not positioned at the far sides of the rear end, rather they’re more centralised like those on the BMW M3. At the front Audi’s ‘single-frame’ grille appears present and correct, albeit with new diamond-like mesh. Flanking it are significantly-sized vent apertures for the air curtains.
On the inside, expect the heavily digitised interior of the Audi A5 and S5 to get a sporting edge, with plenty of RS5 badges, a special wheel and sporty seats, with the whole cabin lavished in stylised stitching.
As for its market positioning? Well, the RS5 is poised to capitalise perhaps where the Mercedes-AMG C63 has gone wrong, with more cylinders than the controversial four-pot Mercedes, but with the added performance benefits and versatility that hybridisation affords to hold above the M3. Quite whether it’ll beat the M3 dynamically remains to be seen. History tells us that’s unlikely.
