I don't have a lot of details on this one yet, but it appears Audi has decided to go after the Mercedes CLS500, the Porsche Panamera, the Volkswagen Passat CC, and other "coupe-like" four-door sedans with the Audi A7. Car and Driver says that the A7 could appear as soon as next year, as a 2010 model; it will be built on the current-gen A5 platform, which incidentally will also serve as the basis for the next A6 sedan.

In fact, the report said that the A7 is basically a "coupe" version of the A6 sedan, although I'm starting to chafe at the distillation of the term "coupe." It's a sedan with a low roofline, not a coupe. At any rate, Audi plans to terrorize the neighborhood with a twin-turbo V10 that makes 600 hp—this will likely end up as the RS 7. No word on other drivelines, though a clean diesel V6 option is likely in such a high-end VW/Audi product, given that they're already working on that engine for the Q7 SUV and the Touareg.