What's all this about?

It's one of those instances where a tuning house has offered a power upgrade for a car that, frankly, isn't really in need of such a thing in the first place.

I'll be the judge of that. What's the car, and who is offering the power upgrade?

The car is the Audi RS 4 Avant, 450hp and 600Nm's worth of finest rapid German estate machine. With a 155mph limited top speed and 0-62mph in just 4.1 seconds, it's not what you'd call slow. However, a tuning house in Audi's native land has decided that an extra 60hp and 80Nm wouldn't got amiss. And that tuning house is Abt, a company long associated with making fast Audis go even faster.

OK, so we're talking a 510hp/680Nm RS 4, then?

We are indeed. There's no word on the performance gains, but expect them to be significant, given the outputs represent a 13 per cent improvement. Achieved through the Abt Engine Control (AEC) unit, which continuously adjusts more than 25 parameters of the ECU to ensure the optimum use of power at all times, the company also says the increases shouldn't affect the Audi's engine reliability, as its internal components are not over-stressed.

It's not just more power that Abt offers for the RS 4, either, as a selection of four different designs of 20-inch Abt sport alloy wheels - styles DR, ER-C, FR and GR - can be painted in Mystic Black, Glossy Black or Matte Black, and then bolted onto the Audi. These also come with spacers to widen the track of the car, while the suspension can be upgraded with ABT sports anti-roll bars on both the front and rear axles. Finally, the start-stop button has an illuminated Abt logo.

All sounds good. So is that it for now?

Apparently not. In an enigmatic statement, Hans-Juergen Abt - CEO of the company - said that this is not the end of the road for performance gains for this car, adding: "We have prepared a little surprise for Geneva Motor Show." So we'll be intrigued to see what's on offer in Switzerland in March, then...