Audi Did Stuff All For Years Then Dropped Three Of The Coolest Cars Going Around

Audi has had an interesting half-decade. They killed the TT and the R8 in 2023 and put nothing in their place, dropped the A7 and S7, launched e-tron variants nobody could tell apart, and renamed half the range according to a rule they abandoned before the paint dried.

The numbers caught up. CarsGuide reports Audi Australia is down 11.2 per cent across the first half of 2026, the worst of the German three, against BMW at 8.0 per cent and Mercedes at 1.7.

Then, inside six months, three of the coolest drops anyone has released this year.

The RS5 Avant Is Really An RS4, And Everyone Knows It

It replaces three cars at once, with the RS4 sedan, RS4 Avant and RS5 Sportback all folding into one sedan-and-wagon pair.

The 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6 now runs with an electric motor for 470kW and 825Nm, which is 139kW more than the car I handed to my father. It does 0-100km/h in 3.6 seconds, covers 76km on battery alone, and houses a small electric motor inside the rear differential so it can shuffle torque side to side electronically.

Australian pricing is $179,900 for the sedan and $182,900 for the Avant before on-roads, with first cars landing in the second half of this year.

The competition is thin. The cheapest automatic M3 is $186,900, and in wagon form it is the M3 Competition Touring, CS ($249,000) or nothing.

Who buys it: two kids, a dog, a garage he cares about, a hard refusal to drive an SUV. He charges at home and does the school run and the coast run in the same car. I was that guy for five years, and 2,370kg is what it now costs.

The Q7 Lost Its Crown And Got Better Anyway

The third-generation Q7 is the least exciting of the three and the one most likely to save Audi Australia’s year. It arrives late in the first quarter of 2027 with two 3.0-litre turbo-diesel V6s running MHEV Plus, in 180kW/500Nm and 220kW/630Nm tunes, with quattro and 3,500kg braked towing.

A 3.0-litre petrol plug-in hybrid with about 100km of electric range follows later in 2027, which matters because NVES penalties make a diesel-only large SUV expensive for the importer. The 440kW/800Nm SQ7 lands after that, aimed at the new X5 M.

Local pricing is not confirmed. International drives returned 6.2L/100km from the 220kW diesel, which on a 75-litre tank is over 1,000km between fills.

It faces the BMW X5, Mercedes GLE, Range Rover Sport and Volvo XC90, and for the first time it is not the top of the range.

Who buys it: mums, families needing three usable rows and 3.5 tonnes of towing without flagship money. Boat to Meetung, seven seats, diesel range.

The SQ9 Is Audi Going After Escalade Money

Revealed this week, the Q9 is the biggest thing Audi has built at 5,310mm long with a 3.14m wheelbase, and the first Audi to wear a 9 since the early nineties.

It takes over from the A8, which ends production later this year, moving flagship money out of a limousine and into a three-row SUV because that is where the buyers went. The SQ9 uses the same 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 as the SQ7 at 440kW and 800Nm, reaching 100km/h in under four seconds, making it the quickest three-row luxury SUV in its class.

Audi Australia has the Q9 on sale here in 2027 with the SQ9 to follow. European pricing opens at €108,400 and the American V8 starts at US$118,000, so expect the local car well north of $200,000.

Rivals are the BMW X7, Mercedes GLS and AMG GLS 63, Range Rover, Cadillac Escalade, and the Chinese flagships in the Zeekr 9X and IM LS9 mould heading here anyway.

Who buys it: people already in an X7 or a Range Rover who want individual electric second-row seats, automatic doors and a 1.5 square metre roof with switchable transparency.

What Comes Next Decides Whether This All Counts

The R8 question is half answered already. In June, Audi revealed the Nuvolari, a mid-engined 736kW plug-in hybrid V8 that hits 100km/h in 2.6 seconds and tops 350km/h, limited to 499 cars globally, with European pre-orders opening this quarter and Australia unconfirmed.

The RS6 is the one I am waiting on, due this year in both body styles, with the big cars keeping V8s while the smaller ones drop to sixes. Land that with the same conviction as these three and Audi becomes the most interesting German brand in eighteen months.

Three cars in six months, after three years without a sports car, a coupe or a flagship. The capability was clearly there the whole time, which is either a damning indictment of the last five years or the best possible sign for the next five.