Geneva -
Audi is amping up its electric car effort with a total of five battery powered vehicles set to hit showrooms by the end of 2020,
and one of them will be a production version of the Q4 e-tron, revealed at the Geneva Motor Show on Tuesday.
Crafted around the Volkswagen Group’s MEB platform for upcoming electric vehicles, the Q4 e-tron concept has two electric motors, one on each axle for quattro all-wheel-drive capability, and together the motors produce 225kW, for a 0-100km/h time of 6.3 seconds.
The floorpan between those axles is filled with a large 82 kWh battery that allows a (claimed) range of up to 450km between charges, on the WLTP cycle.
In size terms the Q4 e-tron is slightly shorter than the Q5, although it’s said to offer ‘class above’ cabin space thanks to its electric vehicle packaging that does away with the transmission tunnel. In pricing terms, the newcomer will slot beneath the already-launched e-tron SUV.
The concept has a special floor covering made from recycled materials and four seats with double seams stitched with thick yarn, although the production car will likely have a conventional five-seat layout. The Q4 also comes with a large-format head-up display with an augmented reality function. The system has some handy features, such as directional arrows for navigation, displayed directly on the course of the road.
The production car is likely to look very similar to the concept that you see here, and hopefully it’ll also offer its ‘Solar Sky’ blue paint hue that changes depending on the angle of the light. Not only was it produced under environmentally friendly conditions, but it also reduces heat build-up on the car’s surface, thereby reducing the load on the aircon.
Other electric Audis planned
So what other battery vehicles does Audi have in the pipeline?
The current e-tron mid-sized SUV will be joined later this year by the e-tron Sportback and the Q2 L e-tron, while production versions of the e-tron GT luxury saloon and the Q4 e-tron compact SUV that you see here are due in the second half of 2020.
That certainly covers a large portion of the market. You worried Tesla?