Audi is planning to unveil a small all-electric SUV at the Geneva auto show in March. The vehicle is expected to compete with Tesla Model Y, which is also expected to be unveiled around the same time.
At the debut of the Audi e-tron in the Netherlands yesterday, Andreas Mindt, Head Exterior Design at Audi, said that the company plans to unveil a “smaller e-tron SUV”, a car that is described as a compact electric SUV, according to AutoWeek Netherlands, who were present at the event.
The released a teaser image shown above.
Audi already announced that it is planning a different version of the e-tron, the e-tron Sportsback, to launch later this year, but this new vehicle would be different.
It would be smaller and it would be based on the new MEB platform, according to the comments made by Mindt reported by AutoWeek.
A concept version of the vehicle is going to be unveiled in March at the Geneva auto show, which is expected to feature several all-electric vehicle debuts.
Electrek’s Take
I am actually very excited about this vehicle and other EVs being released in the same segment in the coming years. I think they will accelerate the overall adoption of electric vehicles.
Coincidently, Tesla is also expected to unveil its Model Y, a small SUV based on the Model 3 platform, around the same time as this new Audi compact electric SUV.
Tesla has previously set March 15 as possible Model Y reveal date.
Several automakers are planning to go all-electric in this segment, which is seen as rapidly growing.
Hyundai and Kia are coming with the Kona EV and Niro EV, which are unfortunately more compliance cars than anything else despite being good EVs, but now several premium automakers are also following up with more luxurious vehicles in the same size.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk thinks that the market for the Model Y is huge. He anticipates demand for the Model Y to land between 500,000 to 1 million units per year.
Last year, he approved the Model Y prototype for production and targets the end of 2020 for the rollout.
2020 is going to be an exciting year for the electric vehicle market.