Audi conjures summoning circle for ‘Avants in the U.S.’

We’ll buy into the expression, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” But how much hope does it take to start a fire? An unknown number of Americans have pined for the

Audi A6 Avant

, and sacrificed to graven images for the

RS6 Avant

. The entreaties have been more urgent since 2017, when

Car and Driver

reported, “There’s also an outside chance that

the United States will get a small quantity

of the next-generation

RS6

Avant, along with the

RS7

” after interviewing former

Audi

Sport CEO Stefan Winkelmann. Now

Audi’s

flaming the frenzy with a Twitter summoning circle:

summoning circle, hope this works

🕯
🕯 🕯
🕯 🕯

🕯 Avants in the U.S. 🕯

🕯 🕯
🕯 🕯
🕯

— Audi (@Audi) March 8, 2019

The year has already seen some back-and-forth on the matter. In January,

CarBuzz

reported that the

A6 and RS6 Avants will come

to the U.S. by 2020, based on the word of a source who’d spoken to two execs from Audi USA. A month later, a

local Audi exec told Motor Authority

that

CarBuzz

wasn’t correct — which is exactly what you’d expect Audi to say before the carmaker had made an official announcement. The exec did say the brand was still actively considering bringing both wagons to the States, and a decision would come soon.

We do get the RS6 Avant’s sibling, the RS7, but four-door coupes don’t do so badly here. If Audi’s still stuck on the familiar issue of Making the Business Case, we aren’t sure what’s changed since 2016 when a company spokesman rhetorically asked

Motor Authority

how Audi could justify an

A6

Avant that would cost as much as a

Q7

, when Americans have proved their preference for the

crossover

.

Actually, we can think of a few changes, namely:

Jaguar XF Sportbrake

,

Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo

,

Volvo V60

Estate and

Volvo V90

Estate. Those have all arrived in the past three years, joining that chestnut and Connecticut favorite, the

Mercedes-AMG E 63 Wagon

. We’re not sure if those were enough to change Audi’s mind about an A6 Avant and an RS6 Avant here. However, we do know that it would be unseemly for Audi to tweet teases to this particular fan base.

If the low-riding load-luggers make it this way, expect true wagons, not Allroad versions. An A6 Avant would probably get the 3.0-liter V6 with 335 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque. The RS6 Avant would share the next-gen RS7 Avant’s 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 fielding 600 hp or more. It’s said that a Performance version of that wagon

could lick the 700-hp mark

. If so, Audi needn’t waste time with a summoning circle of candles. Almighty beasts are much more responsive to the ring of fire.