According to Audi’s head designer Marc Lichte, the RS e-tron GT is “the most beautiful car [he’s] ever drawn”. When you consider that his career spans more than two decades – with seven years at the storied German marque – that declaration makes some impact.
The truth is, Audi has always made beautiful cars, but it the release of the e-tron GT is a significant statement of intent. In fact, scratch that, rather than a statement it is a proclamation shouted over the noise of rush hour traffic on the autobahn.
This is a fully-electric sports car that delignates itself from the rapidly evolving EV battlefield – simply by the fact that it isn’t a cushy, middle of the road cross-over. Powered by a 800-volt, 93kWh lithium-ion battery with a range of 472km and a whiplash-inducing acceleration of 0 to 100kph in 3.3 seconds(!) this is a rapid sports car, but it is very much a Grand Tourer.
“The RS e-tron GT is about intelligent performance,” says Elmir Arnautovic, Audi’s Marketing Director in the Middle East. “It wasn’t built to shoehorn a new EV battery into an existing model, the whole thing has been reverse engineered to ensure that before anything else, it is an Audi.”
He has a point. Unlike Tesla, Audi is a car maker with deep aesthetic and manufacturing roots that have constantly proven to deliver innovation and quality. Unlike Telsa, Audi isn’t a brand that can abandon its history overnight – mainly because it has a history.
Design-wise, what separates this vehicle from the competition because of the methodology behind it. Unlike other manufacturers, this is not an electric system that has been created to fit into an existing design, this is an Audi that has been reverse engineered into evolve the marque (and the industry) into the next generation of design. With the release of its RS e-tron GT, Audi has shown that it believes there is a desire for something that offers what it calls ‘aesthetic intelligence’ – marketing speak for merging innovative technology with progressive, timeless design.
The grille isn’t strictly necessary for e-cars, but for brand continuity, the Audi RS e-tron GT maintains the single frame with the rings, which all models have had since 2004. With EVs, a lot depends on cruising speed – the more aerodynamic the design, the further you get. The GT is one of the most efficient vehicles in the Audi range.
The inverted colour scheme conveys the disruptive element of the electric trend.
Inside, the cabin is less overtly ‘futuristic’ than the rest of the Audi range which makes another nice change from other EVs. Sustainable materials are on offer throughout, from man-made leather seats through to carpets made from fishing nets. In fact, Audi is claiming the e-tron GT’s entire production at its Böllinger Höfe facility is completely carbon neutral.
Overall, it promises to add real presence and pep to an electric scene which has so far been dominated by practicality more than desirability.
Audi is calling it “the gran turismo of the future” and it comes with a futuristic price tag to match – starting from an estimated AED 552,300 for the RS model, available in September 2021.
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