Audi Q6 electric SUV makes its first appearance

An all-electric Audi Q6 – an Audi take on the Tesla Model X – takes its first steps in to the limelight with a teaser image of the new Q6 from Audi. Due in 2018.

We already knew that Audi was planning an electric SUV, and it was thought it could be a new, range-topping Audi Q8.

But if the first look at the teaser image from Audi’s press conference this week is anything to go by, this will be more like a coupe version of the Q5 and be dubbed the Q6, with the Q8 moniker reserved for a range-topping model sitting above the Q7 and aiming for some of Range Rover’s sale.

Dr Ulrich Hackenberg, Audi’s engineering boss, revealed that Audi will launch the Q6 e-tron (if that’s what it’s to be called) in 2018, and that it will have a range of more than 310 miles – which should easily match the Tesla Model X.

Styling will be heavily influenced by the recent Audi Prologue concept, but if the first image is anything to go by it’s still going to be very much an Audi in design.

If Audi is going to go the electric route it’s chosen the right way. Tesla has already shown that basorbing big battery costs in to a high ticket car is far easier that on a mainstream offering, and the Q6 e-tron will be a pricey car when it arrives.

But will it be enough to put a dent in the Tesla Model X, and Tesla’s inflated share price? Perhaps.