Audi reorganizing production sites to build new electric SUV

A new all-electric Audi SUV is being readied for series production, and Audi has begun re-organizing its production sites across Europe in anticipation of the new model’s introduction scheduled for 2018.

Production of this new model is planned to be centralized at Audi’s Brussels plant in Belgium. The plant will have its own on-site battery production facility as well, making it a key plant for electric mobility in the wider Volkswagen Group.

Currently, the Brussels plant is Audi’s production hub for the A1. To accommodate this change, A1 production will transferred to the Martorell plant in Spain, where the Q3 is being made.

Production of the Q3, in turn, will be moved to Gyor, Hungary, where Audi is already producing the A3 Sedan, A3 Cabriolet, TT, and TT Roadster.

“The new model distribution will enhance our production efficiency and strengthen all of the sites involved,” stated Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Audi AG management board.

Stadler also pointed out that this reorganization helped protect jobs and promote the internationalization of Audi’s production network.

Previewed in concept form as the e-tron quattro at last year’s Frankfurt Motor Show, the new electric SUV will, according to Audi, slot in the line-up between the Q5 and Q7. The h-tron quattro concept shown at Detroit this year was given the same description with regards to its positioning, meaning these two concepts are in fact previewing merely different variants of the same model, speculated to be called Q6.

Preliminary specifications released by Audi indicate that the production e-tron quattro will be equipped with three electric motors and a high‑capacity battery capable of providing a cruising range exceeding 500km per full charge. The h-tron quattro, meanwhile, is claimed to have a projected range of 600km per tank.

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