Frankfurt 2009: Audi e-tron is red outside, nice inside
by Jonathon Ramsey on Sep 15th 2009 at 11:40AM 
Audi e-tron concept -- Click above for high-res image gallery
The Audi e-tron concept has a few good things going for it on the outside, like lustrous red paint, some wicked cool taillights, and... well... maybe something else that's escaped us. Sadly, those things are overcome by the chrome baleen job for the front and rear grilles, the too-tricky-by-half headlights, the remnant lines of a blade, and... those... wheels... which look like they were designed by Schick. Inside it's much nicer, with a heart-thumpingly curvy design and a thing-of-beauty center console. Although the steering wheel gives us a hint of pause, the angled gauges make us happy. If Audi can actually get that leviathan powertrain sorted out for production (again, 3,319 lb-ft of torque?!), all would be forgiven. In the meantime, try and enjoy it in the gallery below.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Rudi 12:11PM (9/15/2009)
I think this is great. The looks are a bit out there but the tech should be what's looked at. Audi part of the VW group doing this, I reckon only good could come of it. As you rightly noted if they can sort the power-train for production this should be an all round wicked electric car.
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Zeph 12:59PM (9/15/2009)
The thing about these cars is the most important part, namely the energy storage unit, the battery, is upgradeable. So this is a great car that, with continued investigation into the technology, will only gain more range at less cost over time.
Expect these things to outperform diesel range in the cars lifetime. And it's a long lifetime, if the corporate cronies don't engineer failure into it, which is more than likely, there is no reason for these cars not to last as long as the owners, batteries excluded.
Ethanol (from various crop sources), biodiesels and electric. These are the real green choices. Let's hope this isn't a bait and switch to hybrids, which are a terrible technological choice, adding weight, cost and complexity at the cost of elegance.
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Tohe 4:40PM (9/15/2009)
What a beautiful car, if it only had a chance to ever see the light of day.
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Chris M 11:50PM (9/15/2009)
This concept does have some elements that are not likely to make it to production, such as the too narrow rear window, and those headlights. But the basic design certainly looks production worthy, so we just might see something like it for sale in a few years.