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Audi have released preliminary specs for their latest RS variant - the stonking Audi RS6 Avant. Developed from the V10 S6 launched last year, the 5.2 litre V10 engine now features twin turbochargers, giving power and torque a massive lift. Power is boosted from 435 PS (320 kW) in the 2006 Audi S6 and S6 Avant to a monstrous 580 PS (472 kW), and torque is up to 650 Nm from 540 Nm in the earlier model. Impressive as those figures are, when you consider the broad power band in which they peak, they become doubly so. Power peaks all the way from 6250 rpm to 6700 rpm, and torque from a scarcely credible 1500 rpm through to 6250 rpm. The V10 features dry sump lubrication for increased cornering potential, as well as FSI direct petrol injection.

Slightly shorter than the S6 Avant, at 4928 mm, the new Audi RS6 Avant weighs just 55 kg more than its sibling, tipping the scales at 2025 kg. Despite this mammoth weight to lug around, the engine is sufficiently brutal to propel the vehicle to 100 km/h from standstill in a claimed 4.6 seconds, and top speed is, in the almost standard German tradition, limited to 250 km/h. CO₂ figures and fuel consumption figures have not yet been released, but they're unlikely to be remarkable.

The styling of the RS6 Avant is mildly pleasing, especially the Ur-Quattro reference around the wheelarches, despite suffering from the common modern affliction of the family look - a curse on the bean counters who demand bland homogeneity of design throughout a manufacturer's range of cars, just to capitalise on a whiff of branding. The RS6 Avant is expected to go on sale early in 2008.