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Audi Confirms e-tron Is Dead, Long Live the Fresh Q8 e-tron and Q8 Sportback e-tron

In this day and age, there are so few mysteries left to explore. Even the automotive industry faces the danger of boring us to extensive lengths, especially when it comes to brands that are not that exciting to begin with.
Audi Q8 e-tron and Q8 Sportback e-tron teaser 13 photos
Photo: Audi / Facebook
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Audi, that third wheel from the German luxury carriage, has never vowed too many people – aside from its diehard fans and a few folks who love the crazy V10 tucked inside the R8 sports car. Hey, even their ongoing EV efforts have been quite subtle, and some would dare say even mundane. And they’re not getting better at flaunting surprises.

But let us give you a conclusive example. Back in September, Audi teased the impending arrival of the 2024 e-tron battery electric mid-size luxury crossover series with a mid-cycle string of updates. Alas, the biggest piece of news was the rumor flaunting a quick rename to the Q8 e-tron and Q8 Sportback e-tron for its five-door coupe-SUV sibling, respectively.

Now, mere days away from the official premiere, Audi has confirmed the simpler e-tron moniker is dead as it will be replaced with the Q8 nameplate addition. Well, at least it’s going to be easier to understand that when saying e-tron we mean the sub-brand of hybrid and electric vehicles, not a specific model in particular.

Anyway, the latest teaser flaunted on social media is not giving away too much information (aside from the November 9th unveil date) but rather claims that “the next generation is about to take center stage. The new, fully electric Audi Q8 e-tron models,” and they are even saying that “a new member joins the Audi e-tron series.” Well, that is not overly explicit – are they just referring to the Q8 moniker, or should we expect something along the lines of a third version?

Frankly, with Audi’s track record of not exiting its comfort zone too often, I would not bet on the latter being the case here…


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About the author: Aurel Niculescu
Aurel Niculescu profile photo

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.
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