ABT boosts the new Audi RS5 Avant to 709 hp in a run of just 130 cars

ABT Sportsline has unveiled the RS5-R, its tuned version of the third-generation Audi RS5, and plans to build just 130 examples. The German tuner's build lifts output to 709 hp and is offered as either a sedan or an Avant wagon, with the Audi's hybrid powertrain underneath.

The power upgrade

The factory RS5 pairs a 2.9-liter twin-turbocharged V-6 with an electric motor for 630 hp and 608 lb ft of torque. ABT's Power S software upgrade takes that to 709 hp and 667 lb ft, a gain of 79 hp and 59 lb ft without touching the engine hardware itself.

Introduced in 1994, the RS, or RennSport, line is Audi's answer to BMW M and Mercedes-AMG. Badged cars carry the marque's most advanced technology, aggressive aerodynamics and its trademark Quattro all-wheel-drive system. The line also built the high-performance wagons Audi is best loved for.

The Avant version of the RS5-R plays directly to that longroof history, and ABT has added carbon fiber throughout to hold weight down. The standard hybrid RS5 runs heavy, so the tuner fitted a more aggressive body kit with a front splitter, side skirts and a rear diffuser all made from the material.

The conversion also brings new wheel arches, mirror caps and a large rear wing, fitted to both the sedan and the wagon. The factory RS5 is expected to launch in the US next year, though for now only as a sedan, while the RS5-R build is currently limited to the European market.

What the conversion costs

ABT charges 62,000 euros, roughly $69,000, for the upgraded sedan and 68,000 euros, about $76,000, for the upgraded wagon. That price looks modest because it excludes the donor vehicle, which starts at around $118,000. The full RS5-R therefore runs north of $187,000 before anything else is specified.

The tuner intends to craft 130 examples of the RS5-R in total. ABT has also said an even more powerful version will follow at some point next year, one that adds a titanium exhaust. Specifics on that next step have not yet been announced, beyond the promise of more output than the current car.

The RS5-R will not be the most powerful Audi-derived wagon on sale. MTM's modified RS6 Avant, known as the over-the-top Pangaea GT, holds that ground. Even so, 709 hp and all-wheel drive should make the ABT car genuinely quick, and it arrives with a limited-production cachet the stock RS5 lacks.

ABT Sportsline is one of the best-established German tuners, a shop that has spent decades reworking Volkswagen Group products, and Audi's RS badge is its natural canvas. This is the kind of limited run our Garage coverage tends to watch closely, since tuner specials carry value precisely because so few are made.

When we ranked the fastest Audi cars, the RS e-tron GT led the list at 0-60 mph in 3.1 seconds and up to 637 hp, with the RS 7 and RS6 Avant tied as the quickest gas-powered Audis at 3.3 seconds from their 621 hp V-8. The RS5-R at 709 hp is alongside those names in power, if not yet in a published sprint time.

Audi itself remains one of the most searched luxury car brands, though our ranking of the most popular names found Chinese newcomer BYD now drawing more online interest than Audi or Porsche, with Tesla, BMW and Mercedes-Benz still holding the top three spots worldwide.

That digital standing is a separate measure from editorial depth. We have found Audi outranks BMW across five AI engines despite lower search traffic, because Audi has nearly twice as many pages those engines can read. A limited tuner build like the RS5-R feeds exactly the kind of third-party coverage that keeps a marque visible in AI answers.

The price spread is worth noting for anyone comparing tuner programs. Where a factory RS5 starts near $118,000, Brabus and Awake's recent carbon-fiber eFoil ran $20,490 in a run of just 77, and H. Moser's limited steel Heritage watches started at $18,300. Tuner specials price in scarcity, and the RS5-R does the same at the top of the range.

Even the cosmetics carry the story. Every ABT conversion adds the wider arches, mirror caps and rear wing that mark the car as a tuner build rather than a factory RS5, and buyers are effectively paying for ABT software plus that carbon-fiber bodywork on top of a car Audi will sell unchanged.

The likely total cost matters because the upgrade does not touch the donor car's purchase in Europe, where the build is currently confined. A buyer there faces the 68,000 euro conversion on top of a 118,000 dollar equivalent donor, which puts the RS5-R Avant well beyond a showroom RS5 in spend as well as power.

What is coming next is already stated. ABT says the more powerful variant with the titanium exhaust will appear next year, and with only 130 standard RS5-Rs scheduled, the upgraded model will arrive as an even rarer follow-up. No date or price for it has been given yet.

For now the RS5-R exists as a European proposition with a 130-car cap, a 709 hp software tune, and carbon-fiber bodywork from splitter to diffuser. It is a tuner special aimed squarely at buyers who want more than Audi's own 630 hp, wrapped in the Avant shape the RS line built its reputation on.