Audi’s Second Electric E-Tron

The Audi E-Tron that was unveiled at the Detroit auto show on Monday. It is the second concept Audi has revealed with the E-Tron name.
Audi introduced a second electric car prototype in Detroit today, and it’s a family affair. Like the two-seater sports car Audi showed off recently in Frankfurt and Los Angeles, the new concept is also named E-Tron. The automaker is not trying to be confusing, said Michael Dick, a member of Audi’s Management Board, interviewed in Detroit. Audi says that “E-Tron” will be the name for a family of electric cars — hopefully to gain the same kind of resonance as “quattro” and “TDI.”

Mr. Dick describes the Detroit E-Tron as a kind of mini R8, or alternately as the “little brother” of Audi’s other electric E-Tron concept. “It is smaller and lighter than the other E-Tron, and the technical investment is not so great,” he said. “It is completely new, and something of a scaling exercise from the other car.” The new E-Tron, with two electric motors in the rear axle (the other e-tron has four motors), is capable of zero to 62 miles per hour in 5.9 seconds, with speed governed at 124 miles per hour. Range is estimated at 155 miles.