The summer holidays in the Northern Hemisphere are coming to a close. People are now getting back to work and to their daily lives. It also means motorshow season is drawing closer and closer. One of the major ones is next month’s Frankfurt Motor Show, which will be in Frankfurt.
In the lead up the the September 17 show, as it is with every other motor show these days, expect there to be many “leaked” images and teaser photos building up hype for the many new cars that’ll be unveiled there. For example, these teaser sketches that Audi have revealed for their upcoming electric SUV concept.
Dubbed “e-tron quattro Concept”, it previews an all new Audi we’ve never seen before. It’s one of those ‘SUV Coupes’ things like the BMW X6 and Mercedes GLE Coupe. Size-wise it’ll fit in between the mid-sized Q5 and gigantic Q7. It’ll sit on Volkswagen-Audi Group’s new MLB platform, which is already being used in the new Q7.
More interestingly, the production version of e-tron quattro Concept will only be available as an electric vehicle – no other powertrains will be offered. This shows Audi’s commitment to electric vehicles and, possibly, the direction of the industry.
Audi makes big claims with the e-tron’s eco-credentials. It is said to have a cd rating of 0.25, which is better than any other SUV. Audi also say that it’ll have a range of more than 500km. Powering the e-tron will be three electric motors, one up front and two at the rear. No details on it’s power and torque figures yet, but expect them to be impressive.
The big battery that’ll supply all the juice is placed between the front and rear axle, under the passenger area. Audi have done this to lower the centre of gravity in hope for better driving dynamics. That does mean that the e-tron concept, or whatever its production version will be called, will only be a four-seater.
It’ll be interesting to see more details after a proper unveil at Frankfurt, and to see proper photos of it too. Judging from the sketches it does seem that Audi’s design team have done the impossible and made a decent looking ‘Q-SUV’. I’m still not convinced by this whole ‘SUV Coupe’ fad but at least this one is a normal looking shape. Let’s reserve full judgement until we see actual pics though.
In true Audi fashion, inside is where it’s all at. Everything will be controlled via OLED interfaces. Everything from the climate control to the infotainment system will be virtually buttonless. It makes the push start button look so 2005. But let’s not get carried away, this is only the sketch of a concept. Fingers crossed the production version, and there will be one, will stay true to the concept.
