SPARKY NEW-AGE AUDI

The new-age RS focus at Audi has begun with its new high-performance battery flagship, the RS e-tron GT.

The electric headliner is a stunner, with great looks and headline performance, from a 0-100km/h sprint time of 3.3 seconds to a range of 488 kilometres.

A pair of e-tron GT models have just been set for Australia, with first deliveries in September … but they are not cheap.

The ‘basic’ GT starts at $181,700 and the RS package bumps that to $249,700.

The two models have a similar all-wheel drive mechanical package with twin electric motors, and a two-speed rear gear-set, as well as an 800-volt electrical architecture that promises fast charging which will add 100 kilometres of range in just five minutes. They come with six years of free scheduled servicing and roadside assistance, as well as unlimited charging on the Chargefox network for six years.

“The e-tron GT is what the performance car of the future looks like. This is an Audi unlike any that have gone before it,” ” says Paul Sansom, director of Audi Australia.

But it is very much like the Porsche Taycan, as the e-tron GT has a technical package that’s scooped from the same ’toolbox’ – called the J1 architecture – as the Porsche.

Audi, though, has focussed most of its attention on the styling, distancing its newcomers from the Porsche and upcoming models from other members of the Volkswagen Group – think Bentley and Lamborghini – that will dig through the same toolbox.

So it’s a four-door car that is a gorgeous coupe, with 20 or 23-inch alloys, a long wheelbase and wide track,

“We haven’t put technology into the car for the sake of technology. It’s cutting-edge technology right now, but an indication of where we’re going in the future,” says Audi Australia’s product manager, Peter Strudwicke.

Audi already has two all-electric SUVs on sale in Australia, the e-tron and e-tron Sportback, and they also have a design focus despite their considerable heft.

Right now, the e-tron GT fills the gap left by the outgoing R8 supercar at the top end of the Audi action, although there is every indication that there will eventually be an electric successor to the R8.

For now, the e-tron focus is on grabbing attention and netting cashed-up early green adopters.

Audi Australia is not talking numbers, but the first arrivals are all sold and the waiting list stretches into 2023.

Away from the electric action, the newcomers have a drag co-efficient of just 0.24 with a flat bottom, roll on three-chamber air suspension, and have active matrix LED headlamps with laser high beam on the RS.

Inside, there is Audi’s usual sumptuous leather trim, as well as giant LCD instrument and infotainment screens, sports seats,
16-speaker Bang & Olufsen sound, and all the rest.

An optional carbon fibre roof is available on the RS.

Audi has also tried to inject some of the aural involvement missing from electric cars, touting “an authentically and finely nuanced impression of the work performed by the electric drive system” on the RS that’s delivered outside the car and inside the cabin.

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