Audi has been playing with electric e-tron concepts for years, but until now there has appeared little intent to make the endless concepts much more than interesting diversions.
However, the VW dieselgate crisis seems to have changed all that.
Audi now seems intent on diving headlong in to the electric car market as it seeks to distance itself from “dieselgate” and position itself as a maker of properly “green” cars. Step forward the Audi Q6 EV, Cars UK reports.
Previewed by the e-tron quattro concept at the Frankfurt Motor Show last autumn, the Audi Q6 (which will almost certainly be the badge it wears as Audi admits it will fit between the Q5 and Q7) seems unlikely to change much when it goes into production.
That means a coupe SUV design–looking like something between an Audi SUV and an Allroad with a trio of electric motors–two at the back and one at the front–delivering 496 bhp and 590 lb/ft of torque, and promising an EV range of up to 311 miles and 249 miles from a 30-minute supercharge.
Now we know, thanks to Audi revealing its future production plans, that the Q6 will go into production in Belgium in 2018–where its batteries will also be produced–as Audi shuffles production round to focus on EV production.
The production of the Audi Q6 in Belgium will mean Audi A1 production going off to SEAT’s plant in Martorell and the Q3 shifting from Martorell to Gyor in Hungary.
But if Audi get its EVs right, it seems likely electric Audi production will end up in Germany, especially with Peter Mosch, Audi Union boss and board member, objecting to EV production being centered in Belgium.
