Q4 e-tron starts production

It’s a return of sorts to the very origins of the Audi brand, with the new Q4 e-tron compact electric SUV to be produced in Zwickau, Saxony, the very place the company first began operations. 

Zwickau and the Audi brand go way back to 1909 when the Audi car plants were first established there. Now the Q4 e-tron is the first electric SUV to be produced by Audi in Germany and will be carbon-neutral in production from the outset, with the Zwickau plant satisfying all of its energy needs through the use of renewables as well as featuring a highly efficient combined heat-and-power plant. 

The Audi Q4 e-tron is being built at the same plant as sister brand vehicles like the Volkswagen ID.4 electric vehicle, making Zwickau a truly multi-brand plant and leads to significant cost savings in production. The Q4 e-tron also uses a Volkswagen-made modular electric drive matrix (MEB), which is a highly versatile and variable platform that is suitable for use in numerous fully electric models. This joint development and the ability to share technologies and costs will be used to great effect as Audi looks to launch more than 20 fully electric models by 2025.

This MEB interior architecture means that the Q4 e-tron will boast significant interior space for occupants and luggage alike, despite its compact exterior dimensions, and with its state-of-the-art technology and superb interior finish, represents the next wave of Audi e-mobility.

Despite the fact that the Q4 e-tron shares the production facility, all of the press tools for producing the body parts come from Audi, as do the more than one hundred specialised Audi employees working on the construction of the vehicles. Indeed, Audi toolmakers from Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm were involved right from the initial development stages. The process of trying out the heavy press tools designed specifically for the Q4 e-tron also took place in Audi plants. 

The two main Audi plants in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm are also set to manufacture fully electric vehicles. Beginning in 2022, the first electric model based on the Premium Platform Electric (PPE) – developed jointly with Porsche – will roll off the Ingolstadt assembly line, while the Böllinger Höfe facility already produces the brand’s high-performance grand tourers in the form of the Audi e-tron GT quattro and the RS e-tron GT.

The new Audi Q4 e-tron will be unveiled internationally the middle of next month with the first vehicles available in Europe later this year.