Audi will start EV production in Germany in 2020

The e-tron GT will be a low, sleek coupe-styled sedan with aggressive sports car detailing, based on a teaser photo of the model that Audi released on Thursday.

 

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INGOLSTADT, Germany -- Audi will build a four-door electric sports car in Germany starting in 2020, the brand's CEO confirmed. The e-tron GT, which will be shown in concept form later this year, will be the third model in Audi's range of full-electric cars.

The e-tron GT will be a low, sleek coupe-styled sedan with aggressive sports car detailing, based on a teaser photo of the model that Audi released on Thursday. It will be built in Audi's Boellinger Hoefe site near its Neckarsulm assembly plant in Germany. Audi currently builds the R8 supercar at the site, which opened in 2014.

The new model will become a flagship for the automaker's Audi Sport brand, CEO Rupert Stadler said at the brand's annual financial results press conference on Thursday. "It proves that electric drive can also deliver high performance," he added.

The e-tron GT will be built on VW Group's J1 premium electric car platform shared with Porsche's Mission E sedan, which is expected to launch later this year.

Price revealed

Stadler also revealed today that the automaker's first full-electric model, the e-tron SUV, will cost about 80,000 euros ($100,000) in Germany. That price is slightly more than the recently launched Jaguar I-Pace crossover, which will start at 77,850 euros in Germany when it goes on sale in June. The Tesla Model X electric SUV starts at 96,250 euros in Germany.

The e-tron SUV be will revealed at a special event in Brussels, Belgium, this summer, Stadler said. The car will be built at Audi's factory there.

Stadler promised that by 2025 Audi would offer about 20 electrified models, more than half of them will be full-electric vehicles. This includes the e-tron Sportback, which is due in 2019 and will also be built in Brussels, and another SUV below the one that arrives this year. The smaller SUV will be underpinned by VW Group's MEB platform. Stadler said Audi plans a fifth electric car that would either be an SUV or "sports activity vehicle." 

Audi's other electrified models will include plug-in hybrids and mild hybrids. Stadler said added that all "core model" series cars would be equipped with mild hybrid technology. The first example of this is Audi's new A6 large sedan, which debuted at last week's Geneva auto show.

You can reach Nick Gibbs at ngibbs@crain.com.

 

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