2012 Audi A6 at Detroit Auto show 2011

The sedan version of the fashionable Audi A7 Sportback? The little brother of Audi A8? You can call it anyway, but this is the new 2012 Audi A6 as the Ingolstadt-located automaker displayed at Detroit Auto show 2011. The interior of Audi A6 2012 is looking a lot like the one of the four-door coupe Audi A7 Sportback, being the main attraction point of the new German sedan, the model boasting about a range of engines made of fuel efficient engines, promising a maximum of performance with minimum of fuel consumption. The German automaker says that the new generation Audi A6 is 19% more fuel efficient than its forerunner and that in 2011 a hybrid version will be added to the line-up – an electric motor of 45 HP will help the 211 HP petrol engine.

For the fourth time in the past three years, an Audi model has won a prestigious EyesOn Design Award recognizing the best of automotive design displayed at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Audi has received four EyesOn Design Awards over the past three years. State-of-the art design methods and materials ensure extremely low interior noise levels.

EyesOn Design at the North American International Auto Show is sponsored by the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology (DIO) as part of the EyesOn Design series of events. Each year, they host the EyesOn Design automotive exhibition at the Edsel and Eleanor Ford House in Grosse Pointe, Michigan that also focuses on design. The DIO enjoys a close relationship with automotive designers through the EyesOn Design events and by understanding the correlation between design and the eye.

Last year Audi managed to sell 1,090,000 cars worldwide. As Audi exec after Audi exec explained, in their single-minded quest to become “the world’s largest maker of premiere automobiles,” new product is the key. The big news is that new A6 is lighter than the car it replaces. Audi says that the aluminum-intensive body is 66 pounds lighter than the old one, and the total weight savings is 174 pounds, bringing the mid-size sedan’s total under two tons. Audi says up to 19% more efficient, depending on the engine and transmission. The other big powertrain news is the 2011 A6 Hybrid. Powered by a 211 horsepower 2.0-liter TFSI turbocharged I-4 and a 45 horsepower electric motor. There’s a lithium-ion battery in the trunk that can power the car on pure electric for 2-miles. At least more so than Audi.