As the next step in its plan to integrate more electrification into its now diesel-devoid lineup, Audi is doubling up on battery-powered SUVs. Audi has announced that the e-tron Sportback concept, which debuted at this year’s Shanghai auto show, will go into production in 2019. It will follow the just-plain e-tron, a larger electric crossover due in 2018.
The term e-tron has been messily thrown around at Audi and has appeared on a wide variety of vehicle types. The first time the e-tron moniker was applied to a vehicle was the R8 e-tron concept back in 2009. The idea of the all-electric supercar was bandied about for years before finally entering production for the 2016 model year only to be canceled almost immediately. During that time span, Audi introduced two plug-in-hybrid vehicles: the A3 e-tron and the Q7 e-tron, both of which are still on sale in Europe. The A3 Sportback e-tron is available in the U.S.; the Q7 e-tron is not.
The first time e-tron stood alone as its own model name was in 2015 at the Frankfurt auto show, where Audi introduced the e-tron Quattro concept. This all-electric SUV was the precursor to the model headed for production next year.
Just to keep things confusing, Audi also has g-tron, h-tron, and e-gas vehicles, but those have different powertrains, so we won’t go into any of that here.

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