There's a silent race brewing between Europe's luxury automakers and the Elon Musk's famous car tech start up Tesla.
The aim is to establish a footprint in the electric vehicle (EV) SUV market, and in 2019 is where it's all come to a head. In South Africa, the only pure EV SUV on sale is the Jaguar I-Pace, which we drove in February. It has a claimed range of 400km after being fully charged.
Around the same time, Mercedes-Benz brought in a prototype of their electric SUV, the EQC, to South Africa for the motoring press to have a poke around. The EQC will arrive in the second half of 2019.
Also featured is the new Audi E-Tron, a Q5-sized EV, slated to make its local debut in the final quarter of 2019.
Audi E-Tron facts:
Power: 320kW
Range: 400km
Engine: Two electric motors on each axle and 95kwh battery.
Weight: 2490kg
0-100km/h: 5.7 seconds (claimed)
Top speed: 200km/h
Due: Q4 2019
Power: 294kW
Range: 470km
Engine: Two electric motors on each axle and 90kWh lithium-ion battery.
Weight: 2133kg
0-100km/h: 4.8 seconds (claimed)
Top speed: 200km/h
Due: Available now
Power: 300kW
Range: More than 450km
Engine: Two electric motors on each axle and 80kwh lithum-ion battery.
Weight: 2425kg
0-100km/h: 5.1 seconds (claimed)
Top speed: 180km/h
Due: Second half of 2019
Image: Motorpress