Audi Ready to Fight Tesla Model 3 With A4-Sized EV Sedan: Report

Audi is reportedly planning to bring an electric sedan approximately the size of its A4 to its lineup in 2023, which will bring Audi into direct competition with Tesla and its popular Model 3 sedan.

Audi Head of Design Marc Lichte reportedly told Autocar that this unnamed electric sedan will ride on a shrunken version of the platform underneath its E-Tron GT electric performance sedan, known primarily as PPE or J1. This architecture was developed in tandem by Audi and Porsche, which will use it for the upcoming Taycan and Taycan Cross Turismo.

"There will be [electric] SUVs and low-floor sporty cars such as the E-Tron GT, which is our 'halo' car," Lichte told Autocar. "There will be an E-Tron GT in the [A4-sized] segment as well. We're working on this right now."

Pricing for this A4-approximate E-Tron is said to come in around that of the Q4 E-Tron, a concept of which Audi revealed at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show. Pricing for the Q4 E-Tron isn't yet known, as the model isn't due to hit showrooms until late 2020, but given their near-equivalent position in Audi's lineup, it may be safe to assume performance and range capabilities of the A4-sized E-Tron will be similar to that of the Q4 E-Tron.

Audi has said the Q4 E-Tron will do 280 miles on a full charge on Europe's Worldwide Harmonised Light Vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) yardstick, and presumably less on the United States' more conservative EPA system, though that'll likely put the A4-ish E-Tron in contention with the low- to mid-level Tesla Model 3. Standard rear-axle horsepower will be 201 and torque 229 pound-feet, though all-wheel-drive with a front axle motor will almost certainly be available to push peak output to 302 horsepower. Expect the A4 E-Tron to have the Q4 E-Tron's zero-to-60 time of 6.3 seconds beat too, making every version of this upcoming model a respectable sports sedan.

These numbers whet our appetite for an as-of-yet hypothetical RS-branded E-Tron sedan, which would hopefully be more accessible than the limited-run PB 18 E-Tron.