The Q4 e-tron is Audi’s new junior electric SUV

If Q4 e-tron sounds familiar that’s because Audi previewed it first as a more practical, five-door SUV based on the group’s latest MEB battery-car architecture at the Geneva show last year. What you see here is that car’s sexed-up twin. Both Q4 e-trons go on sale next year as junior counterparts to the £71,500 e-tron with which Audi kickstarted its electric car revolution two years ago. The most recent addition to that range is the Audi e-tron S.

Living up to its name, the new Sportback is all about sporty styling, particularly at the back. The dramatically sloping roofline is radical for Audi, even if the wheel arch blisters are very on-brand. Overall the car has a very organic look with its deeply sculpted sides and hi-tech treatment of the single-frame grille, air inlets and rear diffuser.

That sloping roofline may reduce rear headroom over its Q4 e-tron sibling but in other ways the Sportback should be just as accommodating. The MEB underpinnings, as well as the driver-orientated cabin design, are the same on both cars, for what Audi says is front and rear legroom from the class above. The spacious cabin is thanks to a notably long 2.77m wheelbase. Overall dimensions put the Sportback in the same size class as the current Audi Q5, while a length of 4.6m makes it a full 300mm (1 foot) shorter than the e-tron currently on sale.

Mechanically it mirrors the Q4 concept from 2019 with an 82kWh block of batteries fitted under the floor delivering juice to two electric motors, one front and one back, with a total system power of 225kW which in more traditional terms equates to 306PS (302bhp). It’s all backed up by plenty of torque: 309Nm (228lb ft) from the rear motor and an additional 149Nm (110lb ft) up front. But only when full acceleration is needed or traction is lost does the front motor cut in, otherwise it’s rear-drive.

Range in this configuration is a WLTP approved 279 miles but the modular nature of the platform allows for different motor and battery layouts, and Audi hints that at a 203PS (200bhp) rear-drive only entry version could have a range up to 310 miles. Top speed in any model is pegged back to 111mph in order to make the most of the battery power, something the excellent Cd of 0.26 also assists with.

Audi says it will feel like a conventional powered car to drive, the low-set battery – all half a tonne of it – endowing the Sportback with familiar handling thanks to a low centre of gravity as well as 50-50 weight distribution. Suspension is by struts up front and a multi-link rear end with adaptive damping all round.

To those sinewy looks you can of course add a very cool interior design: Audi’s full “virtural cockpit” digital interface is present here, with the 12.3-inch touch screen sportily angled towards the driver. There are new finishes too, along with a healthy dose of sustainability in material choices.

The Q4 e-tron is the first Audi to use the electric-only MEB platform, what in time will provide the basis of vast numbers of electric cars from across the Volkswagen Group, including much smaller models than this one. Audi alone says it will have 20 fully electric cars on sale by 2025. The more compact size – and lower price point over the current e-tron – of the Q4 twins are designed to bring a more mainstream feel to the e-tron range, but as yet there’s no indication of how much it will cost. As with other Audi ranges, expect the coupe style of the Sportback to attract a premium over the regular Q4 SUV.

“With the Q4 e-tron concepts we are outlining our plans to cascade e-tron technology into the compact SUV class, and I think these studies clearly show that we will be downsizing without in any way downgrading,” Audi UK boss Andrew Doyle tells us.