Audi has announced the 2019 e-tron will now
celebrate its global debut at a special event in San Francisco on September
17th. Coinciding with the unveiling, Audi will release full details and
pricing information on their U.S. consumer website. The company says this will
allow customers to “configure their e-tron and reserve their vehicle with a
refundable US$ 1,000 reservation fee.”
Once customers make a reservation, they will be able
to track their vehicle’s status online as well as with their local dealer. Audi
didn’t go into specifics, but said additional information will be revealed at
the event in San Francisco.
Besides announcing the debut date and reservation
details, Audi released a new teaser image of their first electric crossover.
The image isn’t very revealing, but the company introduced a pre-production
prototype at the Geneva Motor Show. The prototype showed the crossover will
have a wide singleframe grille, small air intakes and slender headlights. The
model also had plastic body cladding, a relatively low ride height and a
tailgate-mounted spoiler.
Audi has released additional information
about the model. The company has confirmed the crossover will have a drag
coefficient of 0.28 and the first “virtual exterior mirrors” to ever be offered
on a production model. Essentially camera mirrors, the devices will feed
footage to OLED displays mounted on the door panels.
Audi hasn’t said much about technical specifics, but
the company has stated the e-tron will have two electric motors and a 95 kWh
battery pack. The five-seat crossover will also be able to receive an 80%
charge in approximately 30 minutes using a 150 kW DC high-speed charging
station. However, using a 9.6 kW AC charger (Level 2, 240-volt/40 amps) will
“deliver a full charge overnight.”
While reservations will begin in September, the
first models won’t arrive in the United States until early 2019.
