The A6 E-Tron Is Audi's First Rear-Wheel Drive Sedan in a Century

A rear-wheel drive sedan isn't abnormal, but one with Audi's four rings on the front? That is very, very unusual. But believe it or not, the base Audi A6 E-Tron—the new electric version of Audi's longstanding mid-size sedan—drives just its rear wheels.

Audi is, of course, a brand defined by its Quattro all-wheel drive system, but it built front-wheel drive cars for much of its history. You have to go all the way back to the Audi 920 of the late 1930s to find an earlier rear-wheel drive Audi sedan than this new A6. And for all of its modern history, the company has only built front or all-wheel drive cars. The only exceptions are the rear-wheel drive versions of the R8 supercar and the base Q4 E-Tron crossover.

Quick history lesson: Audi was formed around the turn of the 20th century, and in 1932, it became part of the Auto Union along with fellow German companies Horch, Wanderer, and DKW. Hence the four rings of the Audi logo. After the War, the Audi name was dropped until the mid-1960s, when Auto Union revived it in favor of DKW. 

Most modern Audis can trace their lineage to the DKW F9, which was designed in the early days of World War II as a successor to the Volkswagen Beetle. As an excellent video from the B Sport YouTube channel explains, Auto Union ran with the F9's drivetrain layout of a longitudinal engine ahead of a transmission sending power to the front wheels. In gas-powered cars larger than the A3, it's the layout Audi still uses to this day, albeit often with the addition of a driveshaft going to the rear in the classic Quattro all-wheel drive system. This includes the A6 and all its predecessors.

All of this is to say that there are decades of tradition here, which the A6 E-Tron breaks with. Of course, many single-motor EVs are rear-wheel drive for a variety of reasons, so on some level, it's not that unusual. Plus, the A6's rivals—the Tesla Model S, BMW i5, and Mercedes EQE—are all rear-wheel drive in base form. Still, it's astonishing that this is the first modern, rear-wheel-drive Audi sedan. 

Going electric changes everything. This break from tradition doesn't really matter in the big scheme of things, yet it's certainly notable given Audi's history. But, a rear-wheel drive sedan is almost always a good thing, so the base A6 E-Tron might be a sweet spot in the Audi range.