Audi set for hot model wave

Audi is preparing to spear its RS and S models into Australia. Top of the wish list, the RS4, will return in its new A4 body early next year - but only as a wagon.

Ask the question about a sedan and Audi goes quiet. “There's no official word about an RS4 sedan,” says Audi Australia's Anna Burgdorf. The RS4 will get the same 331kW V8 as the RS5, recently tested in Germany by Carsguide.

Also new for Australia in November this year will be the S6 and S7 with a 4-litre V8 - dubbed TFSI - which is a derivative of Audi's existing 4.2-litre V8 mill.

The 4-litre has cylinder deactivation to save fuel and is the same engine - though slightly different tuning - as found in the latest Bentley Continental.

Bentley offers the V8 as an option to its ongoing W12. Europe will debut the S8, which also gets this 4-litre V8, but it is yet to be confirmed for Australia.

“It's unlikely,” Burgdorf says. “There is a customer trend to sporty sedans (think S7 and Mercedes CLS) and that's indicated by our sales of the A7. The S7 may have more interest than an S8.”

Audi launched the A4 in June and will now prepare the A4 and A6 Allroad models for an October debut. The second generation Q5, with a new 2-litre turbo-petrol engine option, in December.

The A3 arrives as a five-door in the first quarter of 2013 and an S3 version will follow. The sports version of the Q5, the SQ5, is here about June 2013. Audi has since May 2011 sold a hybrid version of the Q5 in Europe.

Though also intended for sale in the US, the 180kW/480Nm wagon isn't on the Australian shopping list. “It is likely to be too expensive for us,” Burgdorf says. “It also gets the same fuel consumption average as the new 2-litre petrol engine so there's no advantage for Australia.”