Top honours for two RS models

Both are from the celebrated RS stable and both boast extraordinary performance credentials – and now both of these Audi Sport models are also winners in the coveted Robb Report’s Car of the Year awards.

Announced at an exclusive event held at the the Harbourside Residences Display Gallery by Mirvac, the winners of each category represent the very pinnacle of luxury and performance motoring, as well as showcasing the breadth of automotive technology and drivetrains, whether they be combustion, hybrid-drive or all-electric.

The winners from Audi represented both the best of combustion and of all-electric, with the RS Q8 performance and RS e-tron GT performance taking out the Best SUV Coupe and Best Electric GT categories respectively.

The winners were selected from an extensive field with testing taking place over a two day drive event from Sydney up into the Hunter Valley and back.

In keeping with the Robb Report’s focus of celebrating the finer things in life, the drive program and judging process is very much an event in itself and the intimate award evening reflected that, described by Robb Report Australia and New Zealand Editor-in-Chief, Horacio Silva as:

“…a chance to revisit the conversations, comparisons and quiet rivalries that unfold when some of the world’s most compelling performance cars are experienced back-to-back.”

Both the RS Q8 performance and RS e-tron GT performance represent the ultimate incarnation of their respective model lines within the Audi Sport ranks. The RS Q8 performance is the most powerful series-production combustion model Audi has ever produced and also holds the record as the fastest SUV around the famed Nürburgring Nordschleife, with a blistering time of 7:36.698.

Producing an extraordinary 471kW of power and 850Nm of torque between 2300 and 4500rpm, the RS Q8 performance hits 100km/h from rest in a mere 3.6 seconds – supercar performance in any language, but even more impressive given the RS Q8 performance is a full-sized, luxury SUV that lacks for absolutely nothing in terms of automotive technology and luxury appointment.

The RS e-tron GT performance holds the title of ‘most powerful series production Audi vehicle ever produced, boasting performance figures that at first glance look like typing errors. Where the RS Q8 performance relies on the very latest iteration of the brand’s twin-turbo V8 engine, the RS e-tron GT performance uses two electric motors (one mounted on each axle) to deliver 680kW of power on boost and a staggering1,027Nm of torque. That is enough to see the svelte, four-door grand tourer hit 100km/h from a standstill in just 2.5 seconds, which is a sensation that is impossible to describe in writing.

Like its RS Q8 stablemate, the RS e-tron GT performance is no stripped down track special, but rather offers every conceivable luxury as well as state-of-the-art safety and driver assistance systems for a drive experience that can be exciting and engaging or as smooth and refined as the mood and the roads call for.

Its low-slung, coupe-like design provides tremendous interior accommodation for up to five adults and the absence of a transmission tunnel – given its all-electric drivetrain – adds to the feeling of internal space. It is in every respect, a vehicle that perfectly embodies the grand tourer philosophy for the modern age.

Extraordinary performance and handling, striking design and seamless execution characterise the two winning Audis, despite the different ways they achieve excellence in their own right.

Indeed it was the combination of these qualities that impressed Robb Report judges and saw the two RS performance models win their respective classes in the 2025 Robb Report Car of the Year awards.

But the Robb Report Car of the Year awards embrace an even broader approach to excellence in motoring than pure performance or even luxury as Horacio Silva emphasises.

“Car of the Year is about more than a final verdict,” he says. “It is a reflection of how luxury is experienced today – on the road, around the table and in the company of those who appreciate both.”