Watch Tri-Motor Audi e-tron S Bomb It Down the Nurburgring, Overtake a BMW

We put most of that down to the vehicles' exterior design. Despite being larger on all three dimensional axes than the Stuttgart-born electric crossover, it's the Audi that manages to look the sleeker, sportier and more aggressive vehicle. And that's deceitful in more ways than one.

Not only is the EQC more powerful - 408 horsepower compared to the e-tron's 355 in its 55 quattro trim - but it also accelerates considerably quicker - 5.1 seconds for the Mercedes and 6.6 seconds for the Audi (0-62 mph/100 km/h). However, based strictly on appearance, those specs should definitely be inverted, if not even more drastically in favor of the Audi.

Well, after two tame performance levels we have now - the 50 quattro and the 55 quattro - the Ingolstadt outfit is working on an S version that will pack a lot more muscle. How much? That'll be 496 hp and 973 Nm (717 lb-f) of torque, enough to give the Audi e-tron S a drop of 2.1 seconds in its 0-62 mph (0-100 km/h) acceleration time and an electronically-limited top speed of 130 mph (210 km/h).

With no word on when the S e-tron will be launched, the carparazzi have caught the electric crossover testing on the colorful track of the Nürburgring circuit, and the car does seem fast. We're sure Audi didn't ask the pizza delivery boy to try out the car so the skill of the driver factors in, but even the best driver won't be able to make a car go any faster than its technical limitations allow.

The not so big secret of the Audi e-tron S that enables the performance boost is the addition of a third motor. The unit that normally powers the rear axle on the 50 and 55 versions is moved up front on the S, and two smaller motors are used to power the rear wheels.

In case you're wondering what effect this will have on the car's already feeble maximum range, the answer is we can only speculate. If the battery pack stays the same, the added weight can only trim the relatively short wings of the EV, making it even less efficient as a road trip vehicle.

Audi did think about that and limited the power output to 429 hp and 595 lb-ft (808 Nm) when the car is not driven in the "S mode," but that shouldn't be enough to prevent the range loss. However, now you can at least overtake BMW on a track, and that's all that matters. Yes, we've seen the Bimmer indicate right to let the Audi driver it can pass, but it still counts as an overtake.