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A few low-res images of an Audi EV concept have leaked online ahead of its debut at next week's Auto Shanghai, and reports claim we're looking at a nearly production-ready version of the A6 e-tron.
Looking at the concept, we see no reason to doubt the claimed advancements in the vehicle's development. Considering all the other electric models we've seen from Audi so far, this concept seems to fall in line, lacking any extravagant features that scream "show car".
That being said, it does show the difficulty of drawing a beautiful nose for an all-electric car, particularly for a brand that's been doing ICE-powered vehicles for decades. So far, Audi's solution has been to keep the shape of the grille but not its function, seeing how EVs don't need the extra cooling of a combustion engine, but will gladly profit off a closed front end that reduces drag.
The Ingolstadt-based company is now in the same phase Tesla was when it debuted the Model S in 2012. Musk knew he had to keep the vehicle's appearance as close as what the public was used to if he wanted his electric sedan to be successful, so he employed the now-defunct black nose. Four years later, the piece of plastic was dropped and the cleanly-shaved face we know now was introduced.
Audi, just like the rest of the legacy carmakers, needs to make a slow transition if it doesn't want to alienate its clients further, so it's taking things slowly. At the same time, though, it also means we're going to have to cope with designs such as this one that even though they look familiar, they feel pretty strange.
Front end aside, the rest of the A6 e-tron Concept looks like a moderately futuristic sedan, which is probably the look Audi was going for. The side profile is clean and strong, with an excellent glass/metal ratio despite the latter having to hide the height of the battery pack as well. Expect the interior to be nice - because it's an Audi - and big - because it's an EV.
The rear end is where things become slightly weird once more. The Audi designers have decided to skip the seemingly mandatory continuous lightbar, replacing it with two very wide and narrow LED strips. It gives the EV a distinct '90s Japanese car vibe, with the now-classic Toyota Supra springing to mind. Between these two separate lights sits the Audi four-ring logo which seems to be illuminated as well.
Regardless of whether it will look anything like this or not, the Audi A6 e-tron is going to be built on Volkswagen Group's new PPE platform (Premium Platform Electric), designed specifically for larger EVs. The battery-powered models launched this far by Audi use three separate platforms: the e-tron GT shares the J1 chassis with the Porsche Taycan, the recently introduced Q4 e-tron has the wide-spread MEB as its underpinnings, while the company's first effort, the e-tron SUV, showed the rushed nature of its development by using a modified version of the MLB Evo platform (designed for ICE vehicles).
Expect the PPE to hide underneath a lot more Volkswagen Group models coming over the next few years, with sedans set to be joined by SUVs and, who knows, maybe even wagons as well. For now, though, let's just wait for the Auto Shanghai 2021 to debut (April 21) and offer us more info on the Audi A6 e-tron Concept.
That being said, it does show the difficulty of drawing a beautiful nose for an all-electric car, particularly for a brand that's been doing ICE-powered vehicles for decades. So far, Audi's solution has been to keep the shape of the grille but not its function, seeing how EVs don't need the extra cooling of a combustion engine, but will gladly profit off a closed front end that reduces drag.
The Ingolstadt-based company is now in the same phase Tesla was when it debuted the Model S in 2012. Musk knew he had to keep the vehicle's appearance as close as what the public was used to if he wanted his electric sedan to be successful, so he employed the now-defunct black nose. Four years later, the piece of plastic was dropped and the cleanly-shaved face we know now was introduced.
Audi, just like the rest of the legacy carmakers, needs to make a slow transition if it doesn't want to alienate its clients further, so it's taking things slowly. At the same time, though, it also means we're going to have to cope with designs such as this one that even though they look familiar, they feel pretty strange.
Front end aside, the rest of the A6 e-tron Concept looks like a moderately futuristic sedan, which is probably the look Audi was going for. The side profile is clean and strong, with an excellent glass/metal ratio despite the latter having to hide the height of the battery pack as well. Expect the interior to be nice - because it's an Audi - and big - because it's an EV.
The rear end is where things become slightly weird once more. The Audi designers have decided to skip the seemingly mandatory continuous lightbar, replacing it with two very wide and narrow LED strips. It gives the EV a distinct '90s Japanese car vibe, with the now-classic Toyota Supra springing to mind. Between these two separate lights sits the Audi four-ring logo which seems to be illuminated as well.
Regardless of whether it will look anything like this or not, the Audi A6 e-tron is going to be built on Volkswagen Group's new PPE platform (Premium Platform Electric), designed specifically for larger EVs. The battery-powered models launched this far by Audi use three separate platforms: the e-tron GT shares the J1 chassis with the Porsche Taycan, the recently introduced Q4 e-tron has the wide-spread MEB as its underpinnings, while the company's first effort, the e-tron SUV, showed the rushed nature of its development by using a modified version of the MLB Evo platform (designed for ICE vehicles).
Expect the PPE to hide underneath a lot more Volkswagen Group models coming over the next few years, with sedans set to be joined by SUVs and, who knows, maybe even wagons as well. For now, though, let's just wait for the Auto Shanghai 2021 to debut (April 21) and offer us more info on the Audi A6 e-tron Concept.
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