What's all this about?
Here's something you don't see manufacturers doing every day - fancy buying an Audi e-tron concept car? Well, now you can.
Have you lost the last of your marbles? How on Earth is Audi selling a concept car prototype?
Well, it isn't really. Instead, you can slap down a refundable £1,000 deposit on the fully electric (EV) SUV that's based upon the e-tron, which Audi is bringing to showrooms in 2019, making you among the earliest of adopters of Audi's inaugural EV production car. That grand can be placed online at www.audi.co.uk, in the Audi Store area of the site, or you can simply stroll into one of the 116 Audi Centres across the UK to fling cash at your local salesman.
If I do put down the money, what happens next?
You will be enrolled in a Priority Order Members Club, making you among the select few who will have first 'proper' ordering dibs on the EV SUV. You will also benefit from regular updates on how the Audi is progressing, from build to production readiness; invites to special preview events of the vehicle; and opportunities to enter exclusive competitions. The first of these will be a prize draw to win tickets to the invitation-only Audi Polo Challenge in the summer. And no, we've not lost it, we're not talking about Audi rebadging Volkswagen Polos and entering them into some kind of endurance race - we're instead talking about chukka-chukka polo, the posh sport played on horses.
Yeah, I'd kinda got that, thanks. Is that it, though?
No, obviously. When the priority ordering system is activated for the EV - likely to be badged Q6, because the five-seater machine sits between the Q5 and Q7 models in terms of size - then depositors will be informed of the final pricing, specification and optional extras for the SUV, enabling them to submit an order via their preferred Audi Centre before the car becomes publicly available later in 2018. Obviously, the £1,000 deposit will be knocked off the SUV's price if you go ahead with the purchase, and if you don't, it goes back in your pocket.
I'm interested in, er... going all the way, as it were. So what happens then?
You'll be among the first to take delivery of the pioneering Audi to be built on the next-generation MEB electric vehicles platform. More than 20 EVs and plug-in hybrids wearing the Audi logo will join the range by 2025, but this e-tron-based machine will be the first. You should take delivery of the finished item sometime early in 2019.
Matt Robinson - 14 Mar 2018