Nearly every Audi out there for sale has some version of a performance model sitting alongside it. If it's not there yet, then Audi probably has plans for one in the future. This brings us to the E-Tron electric crossover. Audi has only just started screwing together the production car, and now these new spy photos are telling us that a performance variant could be around the corner.
These E-Trons are wearing minimal camouflage, but they are hiding some small changes. The front fascia has vents for the brakes that look slightly larger than before. Instead of black plastic on the wheel arches, the red E-Tron gets arches finished in the vehicle's body color. A different-looking rear valance is covered up out back. And it's tough to tell for sure, but the brakes hiding within might be a bit larger.
The white E-Tron pictured here is the most aggressive of the two pictured on the Nurburgring. It has larger wheels and low-profile, wide tires compared to the red car's meatier sidewalls. We can't read the tire size designation on the sidewall itself, but they look larger than a normal E-Tron's rubber from a visual inspection.
Any talk of performance or power that a performance variant of the E-Tron might provide is still speculation and rumor at this point. Perhaps more electric motors will do the trick? In overdrive mode, the E-Tron makes a peak 402 horsepower and 490 pound-feet of torque. Getting both those figures well into the 500s would probably make for a much quicker crossover with headroom for even more power down the road. What Audi might call a performance variant of the E-Tron is still up for discussion, too. The obvious answer would involve an S, but E-Tron S just doesn't roll off the tongue like S4 or S5. There's always the chance that Audi may try to do something unique in naming its electric performance cars. We'll have to wait and see, but referring to it as an E-Tron S (we've also seen E-Tron Quattro S tossed around) makes the most sense out of anything else for the time being.
An E-Tron Sportback is already confirmed for 2020, but Audi hasn't let on about a quicker version of the normal E-Tron. If an S performance variant of the crossover does come to fruition like these spy shots suggest, we'd expect Audi to take the wraps off either late this year or some time in 2020.
Related Video:
These E-Trons are wearing minimal camouflage, but they are hiding some small changes. The front fascia has vents for the brakes that look slightly larger than before. Instead of black plastic on the wheel arches, the red E-Tron gets arches finished in the vehicle's body color. A different-looking rear valance is covered up out back. And it's tough to tell for sure, but the brakes hiding within might be a bit larger.
The white E-Tron pictured here is the most aggressive of the two pictured on the Nurburgring. It has larger wheels and low-profile, wide tires compared to the red car's meatier sidewalls. We can't read the tire size designation on the sidewall itself, but they look larger than a normal E-Tron's rubber from a visual inspection.
Any talk of performance or power that a performance variant of the E-Tron might provide is still speculation and rumor at this point. Perhaps more electric motors will do the trick? In overdrive mode, the E-Tron makes a peak 402 horsepower and 490 pound-feet of torque. Getting both those figures well into the 500s would probably make for a much quicker crossover with headroom for even more power down the road. What Audi might call a performance variant of the E-Tron is still up for discussion, too. The obvious answer would involve an S, but E-Tron S just doesn't roll off the tongue like S4 or S5. There's always the chance that Audi may try to do something unique in naming its electric performance cars. We'll have to wait and see, but referring to it as an E-Tron S (we've also seen E-Tron Quattro S tossed around) makes the most sense out of anything else for the time being.
An E-Tron Sportback is already confirmed for 2020, but Audi hasn't let on about a quicker version of the normal E-Tron. If an S performance variant of the crossover does come to fruition like these spy shots suggest, we'd expect Audi to take the wraps off either late this year or some time in 2020.
Related Video:
Featured Gallery Audi E-Tron performance variant
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