Reference Auto

Buoyed by its pole position in the country’s luxury car market, Audi has rolled out a new version of the S6, which is a middle level luxury car so far as price, power, comfort and safety go, for Rs 85.99 lakh, but this move wouldn’t do much to rev up sales (but enhance brand value) as the car falls in the semi high-end luxury category, where sales volume is low.

If Audi were to sell around 2,000 S6 cars a year, it would definitely be on the higher side. So, the launch is rather to beef up the Audi brand rather than give sales or revenue a push. The S6 is a sporty version of the sedan A6.

The Audi A6 is among the perfectly designed German luxury saloon cars, which are available in the country and come with a choice of diesel or petrol engines. 

Audi has now added a new range to its executive sedan with the roll out of the 2013 variant of the S6, which is high on performance.

The S6 comes with a 4.0 litre V8 turbo charged direct injection petrol engine and develops a stunning 420 PS of power along with 550 Nm of torque. 

It is mated with a seven-speed S tronic automatic gearbox. The engine is capable of shutting down four cylinders under partial throttle to give fuel efficiency a boost.

Power can be put down on the road with Audi’s top class Quattro all-wheel drive technology. The S6 is capable of revving up from 0 to 100 km per hour in 4.6 seconds flat and can reach an electronically limited top speed of a mind blowing 248 km per hour.

So far as the looks go, the new car comes with the S6 badging, a lip spoiler, aluminium accents on the front grille and a massive 19 inch wheels shod with lower profile tyres. Advanced features include the MMI touch, Adaptive Sport Air Suspension and quad exhaust outlets. 

Among the high-end cars in the Audi stable, the S6 treads the middle path in power, performance and price such as models of its competitors’ cars like the BMW 535i, Volvo S60 T6 and the Jaguar XF 5.0. The S6’s performance is good and can also vie with high performing saloons like the BMW M5 and the Jaguar XFR.

With sales for June 2013 standing at 750 cars, Audi India logged a 4 per cent sales growth compared to the same month in the previous year. In the first half of this year, Audi saw a sales growth of a whopping 21 per cent compared to the same period last year.

So, even if the S6 doesn’t help give much fillip to sales, the Audi brand would get a boost and this (sales) is something the car maker can put on the backburner for now, considering the impressive numbers.