Audi released another e-tron model at NAIAS early yesterday morning. Rather awkwardly its title is “Detroit showcar Audi e-tron”. Maybe they were too busy cramming to get the concept car made in time for the show to bother coming up with a catchy model name.
Perhaps they should have called it the Mini-e-tron, okay that might not be brilliant either, but it’s a damn site better than the full title, so that’s what I’ll stick with. Given this new e-tron is some 220mm shorter than the R8 based e-tron shown at Frankfurt last year the Mini tag seems approriate, too. The short, stubby design is one that may draw envious looks as this is a very nice looking car. Part e-tron, part Aston Martin Vantage and part toy car, it does have some extraordinarily appealing details, such as the shoulder line over the rear wheel, as shown perfectly in the image above.
The changes don’t stop with the cosmetic, either. The Mini-e-tron is rear wheel drive only, and as such has two electric motors as opposed to its bigger brother’s four engines, one at each wheel.
A 399kg battery unit sits behind the seats, but in front of the rear wheels. Even with this near central location the Mini-e-tron’s weight distribution is still biased to the rear at 40:60. Mind, Audi say this “ensures perfect balance”.
It’s no surprise that there’s lots of gadgets in this car, and some of the smartest are the LED headlamps. To help save energy the lamps cover most forward lighting duties. Through the use of specially designed sensors they can automatically raise and lower their high beam at night, they can adjust their intensity to suit varying weather conditions—such as fog or rain—and, through the use of on-board navigation, they can also anticipate the driver’s intended course and illuminate corners before the driver starts turning the steering wheel. That’s kinda cool, I have to say.
Almost as cool as sitting at home entering your desired traffic route on your smartphone, then linking it with your car so that your nav system is right to go as soon as you hop in the driver’s seat. Things like stereo preferences and other in-car settings can be changed remotely with a paired smartphone as well.
Taking the smartphone connection further, the interior does away with a bunch of messy dials and switches in favour of an iPhone-like touch screen and additional scroll pad.
Maximum power on supply from the two engines is 150kW, and through the use of an aluminium and carbon-fibre composite chassis overall weight of the Mini-e-tron is 1350kg. “If necessary” the driver can propel the car from rest to 100km/h in 5.9 seconds. Not too shabby at all, really. With a lighter right foot you can expect to travel up to 250km.
As always, there’s a whole lot more for you after the jump.