Compact electric Audi to come from Ingolstadt

The first PPE model, the Q6 e-tron, is already rolling off the production line at Audi’s main plant and will be presented on 18 March. Audi’s first electric saloon, the A6 e-tron, will come from Ingolstadt on the PPE platform.

“With the Q6 e-tron and A6 e-tron family, e-mobility is coming from Ingolstadt for the first time this year. The Q6 e-tron based on the new Premium Platform Electric is Audi’s next technological leap for electric mobility. In the medium term, we will also produce another purely electric model at the site,” Döllner is said to have told around 5,500 employees at the plant, according to Automobilwoche.

One thing is clear: from 2028, the most important Audi plant will then, as reported, only build electric cars. There is not yet much information on the entry-level electric model. Döllner’s predecessor, Markus Duesmann, confirmed plans for a new model below the Q4 e-tron in March 2023. However, as Döllner has discarded some of Duesmann’s plans and it had been very quiet about the entry-level model until his most recent statement, its future was unclear until now.

Is Audi building an ID.3 offshoot?

According to information from Automobilwoche, Audi’s new entry-level electric model will be positioned in the compact segment and have dimensions similar to those of the current Audi A3. “Audi is working on a new body concept. Volkswagen’s MEB modular system, which already provides the architecture for the previous electric entry-level Q4 e-tron, is to be used as the platform,” the article states.

The MEB or the further development MEB+ would rather speak in favour of an early market launch – if Audi were to wait for the VW Group’s upcoming SSP, it would certainly delay the compact electric car. The current A3 has been offered based on the MQB since 2020 and is 4.34 metres long as a five-door model, while the A4 measures 4.54 metres as a compact saloon – the pure three-door model has not been offered since this generation. That makes the combustion-powered A3 around eight centimetres longer than the VW ID.3, an existing compact model based on the MEB.

What is meant by the “new body concept” is still unclear. Like all MEB model series, the model will likely be slightly taller for technical reasons. Audi may want to utilise this with a new space concept to increase the utility value.

The vehicle will not launch on the market with the code “3.” In the new Audi numeric nomenclature, the odd numbers are intended for the combustion models, while the electric model series has even numbers. As the “4” has already been assigned to the mid-size class with the Q4 e-tron, the compact model will likely be launched as the Audi A2 e-tron or, with an SUV focus, as the Q2 e-tron.

automobilwoche.de (in German)