Audi e-tron Devision Established To Develop Electric Performance Range

IN A SIMILAR VEIN to BMW's M division and Mercedes-Benz's AMG, Audi has established a special performance office - with an electric twist.

Following news that Audi is planning to unveil a production-ready versions of its recent e-tron concepts, the German carmaker has set up a division with the single purpose of developing a whole line of electric performance cars.

“You can assume we’ll have not just one but two or three or even more electric cars,” Filip Brabec, general manager of product planning for Audi of America said this week.

With the first model - based on the original e-tron concept - due to launch in 2012, production is initially expected to be limited to 100 units, growing to more than 1000 in the following year.

The second e-tron offering is likely to be based on the smaller Detroit Showcar Audi e-tron revealed at Frankfurt earlier this year, possibly wearing an R4 badge. One of the two models is expected to appear in production-ready guise at the Geneva Motor Show next month.

"Something big is coming for Geneva, and it will be a production car," an unnamed Audi UK source reportedly told British website PistonHeads recently.