In addition to a Spyder EV model, Audi is also presenting a so-called Sportback variant.
There are those who maintain that an urban vehicle is a contradiction in terms, and that includes the European Union or EU, which has announced plans to ban all conventionally fueled cars from cities by 2050.
Not surprisingly this has resulted in a number of concept cars that on paper at least could skirt the ban, the latest of which is the Audi Urban concept. In sketches and a press release issued today the Audi Urban Concept is teasing a technical study that will presented at the International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt next month – the home market of the German auto industry.
This carbon fuel based German industrial and job creating behemoth so far lags the Japanese automakers Toyota and Honda in the sale of hybrid technology, to say little of the Nissan and Renault electric vehicles now being rolled out globally.
Since the Audi urban concept is intended to be an electric vehicle, it is not based on any previous model, all of which are too heavy to return any practical range-challenged from battery powered cars. Audi says that its development is solely oriented on the strict principles of lightweight construction and efficiency. One of the obvious moves is the eliminated of all but two seats, and those are staggered tandem, as in a sort of bicycle built for two.
Two so-called e-tron electric motors provide the power as long as a charge remains in the lithium-ion battery pack that supplies the energy. No technical details have been released at this time.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, publisher (kzhw@aol.com), is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
Zino is at home on test tracks, knows his way around U.S. Congressional hearing rooms, auto company headquarters, plant floors, as well as industry research and development labs where the real mobility work is done. He can quote from court decisions, refer to instrumented road tests, analyze financial results, and profile executive personalities and corporate cultures.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
