Audi Got Rid Of The “Fake Tailpipes” From Some S Models But Didn’t Put Real Ones

Audi announced a few months ago that it would get rid of “fake tailpipes” from the rear of its cars because customers don’t like them. In the meantime, they started to put their promise into action.

The new S5 returned real exhaust pipes to its rear, but hardly anyone noticed that the larger S6 and S7 models also got rid of fake exhausts. But with them, the result is a little different. Although there are no more “fake exhausts” on these cars, there are no real ones either.

This change happened quietly a year ago, but only now did some media point to it, which attracted the public’s attention.

Images taken from the German configurator show the three cars with a clean rear-end design that no longer has four fake tailpipes. The real “exhausts” are still located under the rear bumper, and at the back, there are now only plastic diffusers that give us the impression that we are looking at one of Audi’s new electric cars with the S designation.

But why did the S6/S7 have fake tailpipes and not real tailpipes in the first place? When Audi launched the S6 and S7 in 2019, the Europeans got the short end of the stick. Unlike US-spec cars with twin-turbo, 2.9-litre V6 petrol engines, equivalent European models got 344bhp diesel V6s. Considering how dirty the rears of diesel cars can look when small particles of diesel soot start to stick to them, it’s no surprise that Audi tucked the exhausts in front of the bumper and directed them downwards. This also explains why after removing the fake exhausts, we didn’t get real ones.

However, that could soon change. Spy shots have revealed that Audi is working on replacements for the S6 and that these cars will likely lose their diesel engine and return to petrol. According to the company’s updated nomenclature, the S6 will hopefully become the S7 – this time with real exhausts.

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