AUDI, a China-only sub-brand that Audi and SAIC spun off for the local car market, has reported its first all-electric wagon being a major success.
According to the company, customers left 10,153 preorders for the E5 Sportback mere 30 minutes after the launch. This sounds rather solid for a vehicle priced from 235,900 to 319,900 CNY (U.S. $33,150–45,000) depending on the trim.
The car is comparable with the European Audi A6 Avant in terms of size, being 4,881 mm long, 1,960 mm wide and 1,479 mm tall with 2,950 mm between the axles. The production is highly localized at the SAIC-VW joint enterprise in Shanghai. SAIC Power Battery, a company co-founded between SAIC and CATL, supplies the nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) batteries for the model.
Branded as “AUDI”, the electric car lacks the iconic four-ring logo. Instead, it has the brand name spelled out in all capital letters on a trim between the hood and the faux grille.
Right now, the E5 Sportback is available in four configurations. The cheapest version drives the rear axle with 299 PS (295 hp / 220 kW), but paying extra gets you a superior motor with 408 PS (402 hp / 300 kW). An AWD variant is available with 525 PS (518 hp / 386 kW) heading for the wheels and 787 PS (776 hp / 580 kW) in the flagship spec.
The four specs listed above offer 618, 773, 623 and 647 kilometers of range per charge, respectively. That translates into 384, 480, 387 and 402 miles for those curious. Unfortunately, we don’t know yet whether the AUDI brand will ever export its EVs to other countries, and it doesn’t look like such plans exist.
Trim features and options include a humongous 59-inch dash display, an infotainment system running on a Snapdragon 8295 chipset, a voice assistant from ByteDance and a full AUDI 360 assist package with a LiDAR. Drivers also get to enjoy adaptive air-ride suspension and rear-wheel steering in the upper trim levels.
In earlier news, AUDI revealed that the E5 Sportback runs on a purpose-designed, China-only 800V electric vehicle architecture known as the Advanced Digitised Platform. Among other things, it allows EV owners to replenish enough charge for 370 km (230 miles) of range in just 10 minutes.
