Audi's baby R8 revealed

11th January 2010

The waiting is finally over! Audi has shocked Detroit Motor Show goers with a new electric concept car that previews a new zero emission baby brother for the R8 supercar. 

Sharing the same 'e-tron' badge as its larger R8-derived brother, which was revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show last September – read our drive of that car here – the new model is 33cm smaller at 3.93m and even shorter than a TT. It is based on an aluminium space fame chassis, and gets carbon fibre reinforced plastic body panels to keep weight to an absolute minimum.

Tipping the scales at around 1,350kgs, the e-tron MK2 is 250kg lighter than the e-tron MK1 and will be the lightest in the carmaker's line up.

Designed in Munich, it's the work of exterior design boss, Steve Lewis: "We've been working on this car for the last four months. Many of the design themes seen here show how we're going to take Audi design forward – such as the sharper lines and more pronounced wheelarches."

Between the cabin and the rear axle is the same all electic powerplant as its sister car, but with two motors instead of four. These drive the rear wheels, and are capable of delivering up to 204bhp.

Though doing away with the firm’s trademark Quattro four wheel drive system, figures promise the car will sprint from 0-62mph in only 5.9sec, while top speed is 124mph, though limited to preserve the batteries.

With a potential range of 155 miles, company engineers promise the car can be fully charged in as little as two hours, though owners will need a special 400volt electricity supply.
 
Prices for the newcomer are still to be confirmed, however, it’s believe the car could go on sale as early as 2012.

Positioned below Audi’s R8 and below the £100,000 e-tron supercar, drivers could expect a price tag of around £50,000.

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