Audi is bringing an electric SUV to market in the form of the e-tron quattro and it’s due next year as a 2019 model. First introduced as a concept at the 2015 Frankfurt auto show, the SUV will be sized between the Q5 and Q7, which originally lead to speculation that it would use Q6 in its name. Instead it will just be called the e-tron quattro.
The prototype spotted testing looks a lot like the current range of recently updated Audi SUVs, and it does appear to be sized between the Q5 and Q7. The rear hatch area slopes down faster than the more upright current products, though, and the grille looks like it is flatter and wider than the current one on both the Q5 and Q7. It’s also likely that the cooling ducts that the current models have on the outer edges of the front bumper are either much smaller or not there at all. There is after, all, no internal combustion engine to cool.
Some of those cues come from the concept shown in Frankfurt, but this version looks much more production ready
Audi e-tron Quattro concept, 2015 Frankfurt Auto Show
Enlarge Photo
Audi e-tron quattro concept, 2015 Frankfurt Auto Show
Enlarge Photo
Audi e-tron quattro concept, 2015 Frankfurt Auto Show
Enlarge Photo
Audi hasn’t announced specs for the e-tron quattro, including its range. We expect the range to be more than 200 miles but probably less than 300.
The e-tron name dates back to 2009, when Audi introduced an electric concept car based on the R8 supercar. Since then, Audi has applied the name to the A3 e-tron and Q7 e-tron plug-in hybrids, as well as the production version of the R8 e-tron, which was canceled after just one year and fewer than 100 had been delivered. That car, by the way, was Audi’s first electric vehicle.
Audi expects to offer two more EVs by 2020. One of those will likely ride the MEB platform Volkswagen will use for its production version of the I.D. concept, and the other is expected to be a sedan.
