There’s a ton of buzz at the moment surrounding the Audi e-tron GT and its RS e-tron sibling. However, as exciting as those cars are, there’s an arguably even more important e-tron model on the horizon and it’s one that costs a helluva lot less — the Audi Q4 e-tron.
The Audi Q4 e-tron will be the brand’s smallest electric vehicle, based on the same MEB all-electric architecture as the Volkswagen ID.3 and ID.4. It will share most of its underpinnings and running gear with the latter VW and will be the entry-level model of the e-tron family. Some new spy photos have recently popped up, showing off this new baby e-tron and some of its new interior. (We don’t own the spy photos but they can be seen here).
From the outside, these photos don’t really show us anything new. We’ve seen spy photos of the Q4’s exterior before and these are no different. However, there are some interior shots in this gallery, which give us a glimpse of what the cabin will look like.
While the cabin looks mostly familiar, there are some important things to note. For instance, in a couple of the photos, we see an all-new steering wheel for a production Audi. It looks very similar to the one found on the Q4 e-tron concept car but it’s not one that’s ever been used in a road-going Audi. It seems to be a four-spoke wheel, with a more squared off design and a squarish airbag.
The Audi Q4 e-tron will also get the same sort of infotainment system that you’ll find in an Audi A3 or Q3. Which means it gets the main MMI touchscreen but has physical climate controls. That’s probably for the best, if we’re honest, as the only real downfall to modern Audi interiors is the touchscreen climate controls, which are difficult to use while driving.
Another interesting bit to note is the floating center console. The gear selector buttons seem to be positioned on a floating, cantilevered pod, which isn’t uncommon in electric cars but is a new design for an Audi. Being that there’s no transmission tunnel to work around, it’s easy to carve out space in the center console and give passengers more cubbie space and leg room.
The Audi e-tron GT might be the sexy, exciting model but it’s the Audi Q4 e-tron that will have a bigger impact on customers and sales. It’s the car that will get Audi Q3 and Q5 buyers, potentially even A4 buyers, into an electric car. So if Audi wants to be successful selling electric vehicles, the Q4 e-tron is going to need to be a success.
