INTERNATIONAL LAUNCH
Audi plugs into the future
Mark Smyth was in San Francisco at the reveal of Audi’s first series production electric vehicle, the E-tron
Audi chose San Francisco to launch its first full series electric vehicle (EV) on Monday night, right on Tesla’s doorstep in California. It was a cheeky move. The Audi Summit was originally supposed to have taken place in Brussels but was postponed when the former Audi CEO, Rupert Stadler, was arrested in connection with the Volkswagen Group’s Dieselgate scandal. Stadler’s continued incarceration meant that he was not present to see the global unveiling of the car he first revealed in concept form at the Frankfurt motor show in 2015. Audi has big plans for its E-tron, the first of a number of new models to appear from the Ingolstadt brand as it ramps up to the point where there will be an E-tron derivative of every model in its line-up in 2025. And before you switch off, thinking this is some European model, come back, because the E-tron will be launched in SA in the second half of 2019. That will be just months after Jaguar launches its I-Pace and ahead of the arrival of the Merced...
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