2011 Audi A6 : First Drive|New Audi A6|Audi 2011|Getty images

Audi (and its parent Volkswagen Group) has been suffering from plenty. All its plants have been working 24/7 and supply just can’t keep pace with worldwide demand. It is a problem many other car makers would love to have on their hands but it is a problem nonetheless and that should worry the marketing men as well as the product planners but how does one tackle it without having to invest in mega bucks production facilities? Well that is not the ambit of this feature but Audi has decided to tackle this with yet another interesting take. After its stunning A8 and A7 models have established its top down quality and performance approach to its technology and luxury perch, Audi has decided to compound the problem (of plenty and not enough to go around!) and confound the skeptics by ushering in yet another all new model!

However, it will be too trivial a detail to think of this as Audi humouring its customer base but the advent of the latest, seventh generation, A6 is in sync with the company’s product development timelines and it can’t have come a day too soon. Especially given the fact that this sort of an executive saloon is so very important to fit in the portfolio of any decent global luxury brand! Having also seen the rapid introductions from Mercedes-Benz and BMW of their latest generation E-class and 5-series models in 2009 and 2010 respectively, Audi’s challenger to these two rival nameplates was always on the cards for 2011. In so many respects the previous generation A6 and its Audi 100 original flattered only to deceive, never having taken the fight to the 5-series or the E-class with as much determination as Audi’s other models have. Sure it was a competent car but it didn’t have that zeitgeist or the soul to stamp its authority on the minds of the enthusiast driver executive and while luxury and craftsmanship was never in doubt, the A6, even with Quattro all-wheel drive was always a degree or so behind in perception and appeal when it came to delivering an involving drive experience.