The American EV limo will gain yet another competitor.
Every week, we unearth new stories suggesting that Tesla is the brand to beat in the EV space. With Jaguar repositioning their flagship XJ as an electric proposition, you’d think Audi would stick some batteries in an A8 and call it a day, right?
It seems Ingolstadt wants to take a more dramatic approach to addressing the threat posed by Tesla and its flagship Model S. In an announcement, Audi has confirmed that by 2020, the brand expects to welcome to its midsts a new fully-electric limousine, in the form of the e-tron GT. The upcoming model has even been previewed in a sole, shadowy shot.
“We interpret sportiness very progressively with our fully-electric e-tron GT, and this is how we will take our high-performance Audi Sport brand into the future.” — Rupert Stadler, CEO, Audi AG
The confirmation of the e-tron GT is part of Audi’s push to introduce some 20 electrified models (comprising of mild-hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and battery-electric vehicles) by 2025. In the same speech, Stadler confirmed that the e-tron SUV, which was recently shown off in Geneva as a response to Jaguar’s I-Pace, will be priced around €80,000 (or $126k thereabouts) when it arrives later this year.
The e-tron SUV is a rather large proposition, which is positioned to be Audi’s first significant move towards full-electric propulsion. No specifics about what’s under the skin were offered up during the e-tron prototype’s showing in Switzerland, though we posit that it’ll pack at least 100kWh in batteries and offer about 500-600km of range.
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