Audi e-tron Sportback electric SUV edges closer to production form
We've seen and driven the upcoming Audi e-tron quattro electric SUV, and this week got a look at the more affordable Q4 e-tron as well as four new plug-in hybrids coming from Audi. In between, the brand is…
From the Energy Metal News archive. This article dates from Mar 9, 2019 and is preserved as first published.
We’ve seen and driven the upcoming Audi e-tron quattro electric SUV, and this week got a look at the more affordable Q4 e-tron as well as four new plug-in hybrids coming from Audi.
In between, the brand is also scheduled to release a fastback version of the e-tron Quattro SUV, called the e-tron Sportback. Auto-industry observers got their first look at the car this week in Geneva, in production prototype form albeit with an orange-and-black camouflage wrap.
Like its more upright and utilitarian brother, the e-tron Sportback is expected to have a range of about 240 miles and use an electric motor on each axle to provide all-wheel drive with a total of up to 400 horsepower and 490 pound-feet of torque.
Audi has said the e-tron Sportback will be tuned for sportier driving than the standard e-tron Quattro, and has hinted that as with the SUV, a more powerful version, with a second motor at the rear, will be available later.
Like the e-tron quattro, the Sportback will offer 150-kilowatt charging capability when it arrives. In the U.S., Volkswagen affiliate Electrify America is in the process of installing the hardware needed for that on a widespread basis, as are several other major charging networks.
Like the e-tron quattro, the Sportback will offer 150-kilowatt charging capability when it arrives.
The e-tron Sportback is expected to be Audi’s second all-electric model when it goes on sale in 2020, and will, based on what Audi has suggested up until now, start slightly higher than the e-tron quattro’s $75,795.
Following the e-tron Sportback, Audi will also sell a smaller, cheaper electric SUV, the Q4 e-tron, a luxified SUV based on VW’s humbler (and potentially ubiquitous) affordable MEB electric-car platform. It is also expected to go on sale next year as a 2021 model. After that, the company plans to roll out the e-tron GT, a sporty electric sedan based on the Porsche Taycan.
