MTM loads 787 hp into the 2020 Audi RS 6 Avant wagon

Audi surprised everyone with the news that it will bring the 591-horsepower RS 6 Avant wagon to the U.S. as a custom-order car in 2020. Now the Audi enthusiasts at MTM claim to have unleashed significantly more power from just a basic tune.

In an Instagram post, MTM announced it had coaxed an extra 196 ponies from the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 to bring output to 787 horsepower, plus an extra 170 pound-feet of torque to bring it to 760 lb-ft of giddyup, all from simple software updates. That’s right, the engine and exhaust, everything is otherwise stock. It showed images of the wagon atop a dyno, plus the computer graph ostensibly backing up the test results.

Turns out there’s precedent for such a project. MTM showed an RS 6 Avant tuned to 750 hp and 697 lb-ft of torque at the Geneva Motor Show that it called the MTM RS6 Clubsport, complete with a two-tone orange and black interior and a roll cage taking up the backseats. But back then, the performance longroof wasn’t available on these shores.

The 2020 RS 6 Avant is all new, with 40 more horses and 74 more lb-ft over its outgoing version, with a 48-volt mild hybrid system, plus a cylinder deactivation system for efficiency. Power is mated to an Audi Sport-tuned eight-speed automatic transmission and Quattro all-wheel drive that offers a 40/60 torque split. The 0-60 mph estimate is 3.6 seconds.

MTM says it’s just the first of multiple tuning options, with U.S. pricing yet to be announced. It also said that its dyno tests showed that the same basic tune generated the same power figures from both the Audi RS7 performance sedan and RS Q8 SUV, both of which offer identical output specs to the RS 6 Avant, so there’s that.