On the market for some time now, the electric SUV from Audi is not exactly breaking records when it comes to sales. The e-tron, as it’s called, sold under 3,000 units in the U.S. since its introduction and a little over 6,000 in Europe. But now that the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) gave it its top award, maybe things will pick up a bit.
IIHS only now got around to crash testing the car and found that it meets its criteria for a 2019 Top Safety Pick+ award. As per the organization, the SUV scored a "good rating in the driver-side small overlap front, passenger-side small overlap front, moderate overlap front, side, roof strength, and head restraint tests."
The car’s standard front crash prevention system rated superior, helping the car avoid collisions in the 25-mph test and reduced its impact speed by an average of 11 mph in the 12-mph test.
Additionally, the static LEDs with high-beam assist earned a good rating as well.
You can see the how the e-tron performed in the IIHS tests in the video attached below.
The Audi e-tron was presented in October last year as the latest of many models wearing the name.
At the time of its introduction, the car used a central-mounted 95 kW battery and two motors that developed 355 hp and 561 Nm (413.8 lb-ft) of torque. The battery gives it a range of 248 miles (400 km).
In August 2019 a new entry-level version was announced, powered by a 71 kWh battery. In this configuration, the range drops to 186 miles (300 km).
Both cars use a new energy recuperation system that generates electricity from other components of the car and feeds it back to the battery. The carmaker claims 30 percent of the total range can be generated this way in the 95 kWh version.
The Audi e-tron is priced from $74,800 in the U.S.
Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies. Full profile
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