The German premium manufacturers Audi, BMW and Mercedes initially rely on battery-powered SUVs to catch up with Tesla. Audi and Mercedes already have two corresponding Stromer in the program, the model from Ingolstadt obviously runs very well differently than the one from Stuttgart.
Audi hands over its first production electric car e-tron to customers since March 2019, the coupé version has also been available since the beginning of the year e-tron Sportback to the streets. As Bayern now announced, 17,641 e-tron were delivered to customers worldwide in the first half of 2020. “This corresponds to an increase of 86.8 percent compared to the previous year – despite the difficult market situation due to the corona pandemic,” emphasizes the company.
With the current figures, the e-tron is ahead of all competitors in the battery-electric luxury class SUV. In Europe, the Audi is even the best-selling E-SUV at all, especially in the Scandinavian market. In the European e-car mecca Norway, for example, the e-tron was the best-selling car model in the first half of the year. 92 percent of the Audi volume delivered in Norway is accounted for by the e-tron. The proportions were also high in Iceland (93%), Sweden (12%) and Israel (14%). In the United States, the e-tron has seen sales increase more than 50 percent since last year since January.
“The Audi e-tron is a real game changer for us and clearly shows how we imagine sustainable and progressive premium mobility,” said Hildegard Wortmann, Head of Sales and Marketing. “Our first fully electric SUV combines design, driving dynamics and interior quality with the latest technology – for emission-free driving without compromise. The e-tron marks the start of a new era for Audi, and we will continue this success story. ”
Mercedes has been delivering its e-tron competitor EQC since May 2019. The Swabians have not published any figures on the progress of sales so far, but according to media reports, some in the group consider the model to be due to sluggish sales “Pipe crimp”. Officially, Daimler recently announced that the current registration figures in Germany are not an indicator “to draw conclusions about end customer demand and sales development for the year as a whole”. According to the Federal Motor Transport Authority, only 397 EQC units were approved in Germany in 2019, compared to 276 in the first four months of 2020.
How Audi e-tron and Mercedes EQC compare to the premium SUV Model X from Tesla, the electric car industry leader, cannot be said exactly. The US manufacturer publishes the figures for the Model X combined with those of the large sedan Model S: 22,800 copies of the two were therefore delivered in the first two quarters of 2020, with the Model S being more popular than the Model X.
According to Audi, the success of the e-tron with 17,641 deliveries in the first half of 2020 “can largely be attributed to its suitability for everyday use”. In addition to the large amount of space, the long-range range plays a decisive role here. With 436 kilometers according to the WLTP standard for the e-tron and 446 kilometers for the e-tron Sportback, longer distances could easily be covered. Added to this is the high charging power, which is present over a wide range of the charging process. The battery can be filled to 80 percent in 30 minutes. For comparison: the Mercedes EQC creates 390 kilometers according to WLTP and can be charged to 80 percent in 40 minutes. in the Tesla Model X up to 507 electric kilometers are possible at a time, 80 percent battery charge can be reached in 30 minutes.
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