Finally, a traditional automotive show! We’ve missed them just as much as we did a popcorn outing with friends at the latest cinema blockbuster. We don’t even mind it takes place halfway across the planet in China, at the Shanghai venue. Keep them coming, we say. And the more EVs, the merrier.
Among the many highlights of the Auto Shanghai 2021 (public days are from April 21st to 28th), there are a few that stand out in the EV crowd already, along with another that’s not exactly too sustainable but still brought a nice surprise to the catwalk.
But let’s not diverge from the zero-emissions subject because Audi has trumped production-specification debuts such as the interesting Mercedes-Benz EQB or the quirky VW ID.6 in favor of a “luxury-class Sportback concept car.” Odd that it wears the A6 moniker, isn’t it?
We know that Audi likes to do things differently in China, hence the locally produced A6 that is only available with a long wheelbase body (it also brought the A7L as one of the four world premieres). Now, Audi has made the A6 an e-tron (zero-emissions EV), and the concept even features a Sportback body.
Anyways, the big figure for the A6 e-tron concept pertains to the range. Like we said, it’s even better than Mercedes’s 300-mile EQB and VW’s 365-mile ID.6 three-row SUV because it also heralds the arrival of the company’s new EV technology platform. That would be the Premium Platform Electric (PPE) offering more than 435 miles (700+ km) of WLTP range on a single charge.
Hopefully, this quotation will become real from late 2022 when the PPE is said to arrive in the C- and B-segment as “both SUVs with a high ground clearance and dynamically styled models with a lower ride height, such as the upcoming Audi A6 e-tron.”
Basically, if we interpret that correctly, the series-production version of the A6 e-tron will at least keep the Sportback styling and won’t share many things with the ICE A6 save for the dimensions. Those are 4.96 meters (195.2 inches) in length, 1.96 meters (77.1 in) in width, and 1.44 meters (56.7 in) in height. Actually, the dimensions bring the A6 e-tron very close to the A7 Sportback.
More importantly, there’s Audi and Porsche’s new PPE technology underneath, sporting up to 350 kW (476 PS/469 hp) from two electric motors and around 100 kWh of energy in the battery pack. That’s enough for the concept to travel around 435 miles (700+ km) on a single recharge (which goes up to 270 kW) and hit 62 mph (100 kph) in between 7 (for the entry version) and less than 4 seconds (high-performance).
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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