Audi has confirmed it is to make a small production run of the R8 e-tron; the car maker’s first electric car.
Renowned for its high performance vehicles, Audi will build the new R8 e-tron at its Neckarsulm site in Heilbronn, Germany, where specially qualified employees will borrow from the series production of the successful R8 mid-engine sports car as they assemble the e-tron version. The manufacturer hopes that this will be the first step in establishing the brand as the top premium car maker for electric cars.
The car will offer blistering performance just like its combustion counterpart. Using an aluminium construction, the car’s body will barely weigh more than 200 kg (441 lb) bringing its total weight to just 1,600 kg (3,527 lb), meaning that the car will not be slowed down just through the use of a battery pack.
Set to go on sale in 2012, Audi hopes that the e-tron will allow the car maker to take the lead in the development of advanced electric cars, and hopes the term ‘e-tron’ will become synonymous with it, in a way that ‘quattro’ today stands for pioneering all-wheel drive.
First shown as a concept car at the Frankfurt motor show back in 2009; the R8 e-tron features a 230 kW (313 hp) electric motor capable of delivering 4,500 Nm (3,319 lb-ft) of torque, allowing the two-seater to accelerate from 0 to 62 mph in 4.8 seconds. It’s lithium ion batteries will give it a range of over 150 miles. Audi has not confirmed the exact numbers of cars to be produced in this first run, but we would expect that it will be around 250.
"With the R8 e-tron, we are showing how inspiring electric mobility can be. Every system in this car has been tuned for maximum performance and range," said Franciscus van Meel, Head of Electric Mobility Strategy at AUDI AG.
"We want to be the leading premium manufacturer of electric vehicles by 2020," van Meel added.
Audi has yet to confirm a price for the model.
