Audi's First All-Electric SUV Will Hit The Market Next Year - Can It Give Tesla's Model X A Run For The Money?

And still to this day, no mention of price. Not even a ballpark price. Not even a realm of possibilities of where it could exist in the premium/luxury/ultra luxury spectrum. Color me sceptical at best. Meanwhile, my Model 3 I have on deposit is scheduled to start production this Summer 2017 at starting around $35k. This info Tesla released 2 years ago. What is Audi hiding? (Bmw, Jag, and Benz as well)

So, you got a model for your car and price. what else do you know about it?

@monster: there are plenty of facts to know about the Model 3 if you look.

For a starter, the Model 3 will have everything the Model S offers: an honest EV that can go anywhere, high performance, full of tech gizmos, autonomous driving capability, OTA software updates, ... The Model 3 will use a new battery design with better thermal management and higher energy density, resulting in a lighter weight/more range combo.

With a much lower price tag, it will be accessible to a lot more people who want a smaller and lighter car. For a lighter car, handling will improve over the already good Model S.

There is so much potential for the Model 3 and its inevitable spin-offs, hence the excitement and enthusiasm for it. With all the production pieces coming together (Gigafactory, new battery design, assembly expansion, new executives with volume production and design experience, ... ) and by all recent indications, the planned roll-out later this year seems to be on track.

As a reservation holder of 2 Model 3's, I can't wait either.

Sorry - but the Model 3 WILL NOT have everything that the Model S offers. Simple economics tells you that already. Tesla had not made a dime of profit on any car yet - and reducing its basic price from the $70,000 range to half of that would be sure doom for the company.

But the most basic result of this Audi - and others from other manufacturers is COMPETITION. THe model X sells very few in comparison to ICE Suvs. And it is sold with Tesla's non competitive one price model. You can bet that other manufacturers are not going to use that form - creating price competition at the dealer level. ADD IN - Audi has an order of magnitude more dealers and more service departments than Tesla - and GM has even more than that - and Tesla wil be the one who has to catch up. You can bet that Audi and Gm will use that advantage in their advertising. THere are states where there is only one Tesla service department. I would not be happy with that.

I have a Model 3 reservation for my wife, there will be some compromises over the S but they are mostly minor things:

- Smaller size
- Trunk vs. hatchback
- Manual door handles
- Body is steel/aluminum alloy vs. all aluminum
- 15 inch vs. 17 inch center screen
- Lower battery capacity
- No option for full glass roof, there will always be a bar
- No hvac directional controls

Personally, none of the items up there are a deal breaker for me (although I love the hatch). I might upgrade as well since over my Model S 40 there are already major improvements that would be worth it:

- Autonomous driving capabilities
- 90+ extra miles of range (I only get 130 miles)
- Supercharging access
- Dual Motor (estimating this will be $4k more, $39k base)
- Faster performance (mine is plenty fast, but I think it will pull around 4.9s 0-60 with dual motor and maybe an upgraded battery)

like I want to drive an SUV looking like a blue whale hoovering back krill as it swims. Change the grill so it doesn't look like a gaping mouth, geez...

wow llaroo, your comment is soooo original...
My question is this. With EV's, the need for a grille is not as essential as for ICE cars, why is Audi using this as their front-end for their e-tron range?
I will say that if the AER is as stated (310 miles) and the price is reasonable, this would be worth looking at.
Speaking of price, rockreid, I'm glad that you know the base price of your model 3, but I don't think you'll be anywhere near price that when you finish going through the options list. I doubt any model 3 owner will get one for $35k. But we'll see.

Audi will find out just how small the market is for a car like this. People will not buy it in large numbers.

Regarding price, this will sit in between the Q5 and Q7. That piece of information gives us a good idea already of what the price will be. This eTron SUV will likely start around $65K - a discount to the Tesla Model X.

More importantly, the range will be 315 miles vs. just 289 miles for the P100D Model X.

With likely a significant price discount to the Tesla Model X, a longer range and a higher quality interior backed with Audi's widespread dealer network, Audi can have a large seller on its hands for those that want an electric SUV.

You are wrong. Just plain wrong. THe article says the SIZE will sit between the Q5 and Q7. No place in the article, or no place anywhere else has Audi even mentioned PRICE. DO not be shocked when the Base Price of the Audi e-Tron starts at $120,000 out the door. Loaded up with performance and options closer to $160,000. Again, do not be shocked. You will have been warned. For comparison, the Base Price of a Model X starts at $74k.

You are wrong. Just plain wrong. THe article says the SIZE will sit between the Q5 and Q7. No place in the article, or no place anywhere else has Audi even mentioned PRICE. DO not be shocked when the Base Price of the Audi e-Tron starts at $120,000 out the door. Loaded up with performance and options closer to $160,000. Again, do not be shocked. You will have been warned. For comparison, the Base Price of a Model X starts at $74k.

Someone make an EV sports car already! (one not costing $1M+ please)

Tesla is doing a new roadster ~2020 using the Model 3 platform and P100D drivetrain, 0-60 in under 2 seconds purportedly.

Tesla or Audi? Audi!

Tesla or Audi? Audi!

Sure as hell looks a lot better than the Model X.

This Audi will still need to outperform, both in price and performance, to beat Tesla's brand cache.

If Audi can produce these in quantity, I think they have a good chance of outselling the Model X.

Audi can produce, the main question is do they really want to. So far the answer has been a disappointing no.

Honestly, I'd rather see an electric Panamera and Cayenne first, they already have plugin hybrid versions, and the price-premium that they would carry (i.e. due to the lack of economies of scale) would be easier to accept if they deliver performance.

The Tesla Model X P75D starts at $85K, only offers a range of 237 miles, looks like a minivan and lacks a robust dealer network. Even the $135K P100D only offers a range of 289 miles.

The Audi eTron SUV will likely start around $65k, offer a range of 319 miles, looks better and is supported by Audi's top notch interior quality and vast dealer network. Audi will not price the eTron at more than $70K base because doing so would put it on par with the Q7, which is for now the brand's flagship SUV. Pricing the eTron SUV at more than $100,000 what would put it in competition with the Audi Q8 SUV. Audi's entire SUV lineup would be thrown off, which it won't do.

It isn't tough to see how Audi can have a huge seller on its hands for those that want an electric SUV.

If the sales of the A3 e-tron are an indicator there is indeed a market for electrified Audi vehicles. However Audi (and all of VW) have been rather slow pursuing that market leaving it for BWM and MB to grab. Doing quite a bit better in Europe with more plugin models on the market (Golf/Passat GTE, e-UP, e-Golf, etc)

If they indeed make that price point, it will sell great. However, we really have no idea yet where the price will be. As mentioned earlier, they said it is sized between the Q5 and Q7, not priced.

"Likely start at $65k..." Please, just stop already. You are just making your nonsense up as you go along. You have no evidence anywhere that Audi (or BMW or Benz or Jag) will have a 100%EV anywhere close to a starting price of $65k. Nothing printed or quoted anywhere from any of these carmakers has given any indication of where they can price their luxury level electric vehicles except for BMW's i8 a starting at $141,000. And it's a given that any first delivery from Audi will be configured at the highest trim level and at the highest price with lower tier trim levels appearing much later. So expect a price of at least $120,000 right off the bat upon launch.

The robust dealer network is completely meaningless from a sales perspective, the stores and website provide an infinitely better experience from a customer perspective. As for servicing, there are still some gaps but high-demand areas are well covered (7+ service stations in the Bay Area, LA Area, and NY Area). They are planning at least 50 more service stations in the US by 2018 for help with the Model 3 rollout. I also suspect it will only require service every two years.

(Suspect the Model 3 will require service every two years, Model S and X are a bit more complex).