Audi’s new China focused E SUV, a dazzling number on paper, a modest reality up close
Audi’s latest E SUV prototype tries to stand out in China’s crowded electric market with bold power figures. A closer look shows something more restrained. The size is ambitious, the performance sits below the flagship level and the range lands safely in the middle of the pack.
Audi released official images and updated data at Guangzhou, presenting the E SUV as a full size electric crossover created specifically for the local market. It sits alongside the E5 Sportback, the first model of Audi’s China sub brand. The newcomer is physically larger yet, somewhat paradoxically, less technically aggressive.
The numbers are clear. Length, width and height measure 5057, 2042 and 1786 millimetres, with a wheelbase of 3060 millimetres. That is one hundred millimetres more between the axles than the E5 Sportback and a noticeable increase in height. Even so, it remains smaller than local giants such as the Voyah Taishan and the Zeekr 9X. Audi is placing the E SUV between the heavyweights rather than trying to punch directly at them.
Two electric motors provide a combined 680 horsepower, fed by a 109 kilowatt hour battery. It reads well until you recall that the all wheel drive E5 Sportback delivers 787 horsepower and reaches about 770 kilometres of official range with a 100 kilowatt hour battery. The E SUV promises more than 700 kilometres, a figure that barely raises eyebrows in today’s Chinese market.
Acceleration from zero to one hundred kilometres an hour takes roughly five seconds, impressive only for anyone who has not yet encountered the thousand horsepower electric SUVs that Chinese manufacturers now produce with casual regularity.
Charging performance is solid. Ten minutes at a fast charger adds energy for about 320 kilometres.
The E SUV features 360 Driving Assist, a driver assistance package developed for the particular rhythm of Chinese traffic. Audi is not yet ready to explain what that tuning entails. The final answer may sound braver than the real world experience that follows.
Camouflaged prototypes seen during testing suggest the project is nearly finished. Audi hints that the production model could appear in the first months of 2026, which usually translates to soon, but only after China’s domestic players have already started their next update cycle.
