On sale in the UK towards the end of the year, the five-door coupé features new design details including the single frame grille – seen on the facelifted A7 that was unveiled last month – with the black honeycomb typical of RS models.

Like its lesser-powered A7 siblings, the RS7 also gains new headlights with LED technology as a standard feature and Matrix LED technology as an option. There’s also new tail-lights at the rear and 20‑inch forged lightweight alloy wheels as a standard feature, with 21‑inch cast aluminum wheels in three colour versions optionally available.

Inside, there’s changes to the instrument cluster and the shift paddles behind the steering wheel. Meanwhile the standard MMI navigation plus with MMI touch now uses a graphics processor from Nvidia for improved operation.

The 4.0 TFSI remains unchanged, delivering 552bhp, with a constant 7516.3lb.ft of torque at engine speeds between 1,750 and 5,500rpm. An eight‑speed tiptronic auto is standard with quattro permanent all‑wheel drive. On request, Audi will combine quattro all‑wheel drive with the optional sport differential on the rear axle.

Audi claims a 0 to 62mph time of 3.9 seconds as before. Top speed is 155mph whilst the optional dynamics packages allow this to rise to 174.0 and 189.5mph respectively.

Meanwhile the cylinder on demand (COD) system, which can shut down four cylinders during partial load operation, gives an official combined fuel economy figure of 29.7mpg with 221g/km of CO2.

The RS adaptive air suspension, together with adaptive damping, is standard and lowers the body by 20mm. Audi offers the tauter RS sport suspension plus with Dynamic Ride Control (DRC) as an alternative. A further option is dynamic steering, with its continuously variable steering ratio.

First deliveries are due towards the end of the year. Prices are yet to be announced.