Cars and Concepts

Cars and Concepts

GT sports car will be Audi's latest e-tron

INGOLSTADT, Germany — Audi will build a four-door electric sports car in Germany starting in 2020, CEO Rupert Stadler confirmed. The e-tron GT, which will be shown in concept form this year, will be the third model in Audi's range of full-electric cars.

The e-tron GT will be a low, sleek coupe-styled sedan with aggressive sports car detailing, based on a teaser photo that Audi released last week. It will be built in Audi's Boellinger Hoefe site near its Neckarsulm assembly plant in Germany. Audi builds the R8 supercar at the site, which opened in 2014.

The new model will become a flagship for the automaker's Audi Sport line, Stadler said at Audi's annual financial results press conference. “It proves that electric drive can also deliver high performance,” he said.

The e-tron GT will be built on VW Group's J1 premium electric car platform shared with Porsche's Mission E sedan, which is expected to launch this year.

Stadler also revealed that the automaker's first full-electric model, the e-tron crossover, will cost about €80,000 ($98,650) in Germany. That price is slightly more than the recently launched Jaguar I-Pace crossover, which will start at €77,850 ($95,970) in Germany when it goes on sale in June. The Tesla Model X crossover starts at €96,250 ($118,680) in Germany.

The e-tron crossover be will revealed at a special event this summer in Brussels, Stadler said. The car will be built at Audi's factory there.