Well look what rolled in through the fog of early morning at Audi’s Nurburgring test facility this morning. On the outside, it is the as-of-yet unseen Audi S4 Avant, but what looks like new allroad fender flares suggest it is actually something more potent.

Why would an S4 have a wider track and need flares? The answer to most who ready this site with any regularity should be obvious. A wider track means a flared RS 4. In case those don’t make it obvious, the fact that it’s rolling on 20-inch wheels that are standard spec on the current RS 4 Avant should make it further evident.

That this mule is likely an RS 4 is the big news here, but there are other details that shouldn’t be missed. First off, the car is otherwise specced as an S4 Avant. While the S4 sedan was shown at Frankfurt, the S4 Avant has neither been shown on an auto show stand nor have photos been officially seen. As such, this is also newsworthy because it shows S4 Avant bodywork since no S4 Avant test mule before now did so undisguised and fully trimmed.

Next up are those flares. Note the angular front corner of the front flare. The B8.5 allroad flare is more rounded, suggesting that, while not all there in their entirety, this car also wears much of the flare bodywork of the upcoming B9 allroad.

Back to the suggestion that this is an RS 4 though. You can guess that the actual RS 4 won’t use allroad flares and instead feature flared fender bodywork integrated into the design. Whether or not it uses box flares like the B8 RS 4 and RS 5 or arched flares like the B7 and B5 RS 4 versions isn’t confirmed by these images, but contacts we know who’ve seen the 2-door RS 5 confirm box flares remain on that car… along with a prologue concept inspired hood and added fender vents that is not seen in these images but may also carry over to RS 4.

What we do know about the vented RS 5 and also the RS 4 is that they’ll feature a new biturbo version of the 3.0-liter seen in the S4. Of course, S4 has a single turbo setup but this new engine will have two. Whether or not one is an electric turbo remains to be seen.

We do have one last rumor we want to share on the RS 4. It may yet be considered for America. Speaking to an Audi of America source and explaining we wish the RS 6 would finally come over next time and the response was that something else like that may come instead. In other words, we’re assuming they mean RS 4.

Check out more images of the RS 4 test mule in our photo gallery linked below and also to the right of this story.

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