Audi has shown us three possibilities for its upcoming e-tron line: the gorgeous R8-like e-tron, the punchy A1 e-tron, and our favorite, the Detroit e-tron. Far smaller but somewhat more robust-looking than the leggy first e-tron, the Detroit e-tron shows us how sexy a small car (its about 10 inches shorter than an Audi TT) can be. It also promises to be a blast to drive, its 204 hp and 300-to-400 lb-ft of torque fed to the rear wheels for a claimed 5.9-second run to 62 mph that seems respectable if a bit conservative. (Blame the 880-pound lithium-ion battery pack for bloating weight to a heady-for-the-size 2976 pounds.)
Still, the more we drive electric cars, the more we like their instant-on power and nearly silent speed. If Audi can pull this hot little shocker out of its hat in the next few years, we speculate that even the most stubborn, tree-slaughtering, hippie-hatin’ internal-combustion die-hards will get on board, too.
