German carmaker Audi has announced that it will not abandon its “e-tron” brand, which is currently used to distinguish electric cars from conventional models, in the future. Although Audi has committed to switch to electric car production by 2033, the “e-tron” is here to stay.
Earlier, one of Audi’s fiercest rivals, Mercedes, announced that it would gradually phase out the “EQ” designation for its electric cars. Mercedes’ explanation is quite simple – more and more of their models will be electric, abandoning internal combustion engines, so there is no need to keep the specific designation of electric car.
Starting in 2026, all new Audi models will be electric only. In the next couple of years, Audi will present new models with internal combustion engines, which will go through the full life cycle of the model in production, but by 2033 the manufacturer will completely abandon the use of internal combustion engines. Also, Audi will change the philosophy of car design development – the car interior will be developed first, and only then the exterior design will be prepared.
