It was back in 2018 at the Los Angeles Auto Show when Audi first showed the world its take on the Porsche Taycan. While the latter is already out and about looking to secure its place in a Tesla-dominated world of luxury electric cars, the Audi e-tron GT is coming late to the party, just in time to celebrate the Christmas holidays.
A great-looking four-door all-electric grand tourer prototype in its LA Auto Show form, the e-tron GT is currently wrapped in Audi’s eclectic camouflage for the current teaser. But the company will soon lift the official curtain and reveal the series-production model – and we expect to see quite the resemblance.
That’s a good thing, because the electric world hasn’t been idle during this couple of years, and competitors are getting more luxurious and as technically advanced as possible – to the brink of Lucid Motors’ new Air looking to dethrone the Tesla Model S both in terms of performance and range.
As far as Audi is concerned, there are baby steps to be taken. One of them will have to do with the Gran Turismo being assembled at the small-series production facility Audi Böllinger Höfe at the Neckarsulm site where the brand also makes the R8 sports car.
The location has been expanded, upgraded, and reconverted for its new role – one that is said to be unique among VW Group’s facilities because of the interesting integration on the same line of two cars that are technically completely different.
To achieve that, the company has deployed a raft of new, smart, technologies. For example, the body shop has ten workstations with about 34 robots (85% automation), but there's still room for its skilled workers to perform manual finishing touches just like craftsmen of old.
Interestingly, Audi is also very proud of its newly developed “acoustic vehicle alerting system (AVAS).” The legally required electric vehicle exterior sound comes from a speaker fitted to the front of the vehicle.
It was created by two engineers as a “progressive electronic sound” and the company even has an optional sound package that adds a second exterior loudspeaker in the back along with two speakers inside.
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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