Looking every inch the conventional Audi SUV but radically different under the skin and boasting some novel ideas, the e-tron is in production in Brussels now and you can be whirring silently around in one from early 2019, in return for £70,805. The e-tron is Audi’s answer to both the Jaguar I-Pace and Mercedes-Benz EQC electric SUVs.
An e-tron Sportback will join the range in 2019 while the following year a sportier e-tron GT from AudiSport arrives. This will use new and bespoke flat-floor electric architecture co-developed with Porsche. A concept preview of the e-tron GT is expected at the Los Angeles show later this year. Further out, Audi is promising that among the 25 “e-mobility” electric cars by 2015 will be cars of every size, shape and price range.
The e-tron (all lower case like quattro), is purely battery powered, has motors back and front for all-wheel-drive and keep its batteries under the floor for a low centre of gravity and 50:50 weight distribution. The five-seater is between the Q5 and Q7 on length and width, but lower than both of them and aerodynamically better.