Audi Etron Concept - H 2015
Courtesy of AudiIn another confirmation of the increasing competitiveness in the luxury electric automobile field, Audi on Wednesday released a sketch of its e-tron quattro concept.
The low-silhouette SUV will be sized between Audi’s Q5 and Q7 and have a range Audi claims will top 300 miles, placing it in direct competition with Tesla’s Model X electric SUV, which goes on sale in September after years of delays. Audi will unveil the concept in September at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt.
Tesla has more than 20,000 pre-orders for the Model X and wants to sell 55,000 vehicles this year. Speaking at the annual Allen & Co media conference in July, Telsa Motors CEO Elon Musk said that the Model X would double Tesla’s annual sales, Bloomberg reported. Currently Tesla sells only the Model S, the game-changing sedan driven by Hollywood players including Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg.
Musk earlier set a goal of selling 500,000 vehicles annually by 2020, when the Model X and Model 3, a lower-priced volume sedan expected to debut in 2017, will be in full production.
Telsa has had the luxury electric car market largely to itself since it launched the Model S in 2012, but faces increased competition from Mercedes-Benz, BMW. Audi and Porsche.
According to a report cited by Car & Driver, Porsche could unveil a long-range electric-powered derivation of its popular Panamera sports sedan at Frankfurt, which would give the Model S its first direct competition.
The Frankfurt Auto Show runs Sept. 17-27.
