New Audi Q6 e-tron revealed: Carwow gets hands-on with posh electric SUV

• All-new Audi Q6 e-tron is Audi’s latest electric SUV
• Improved range and efficiency compared to earlier e-tron models
• Shares many of its parts with Porsche
• Up to 385 miles of range, 80% charge in 21 minutes
• Glitzy lights and new screen-heavy interior
• Priced from £68,975 in the UK

This is Audi’s newest and most important electric car – the Q6 e-tron. Sitting in between the Q4 and Q8 e-tron, it’s an electric-powered alternative to the popular Q5 – and a long-awaited answer to cars like the BMW iX and Mercedes EQE SUV.

With first deliveries later this year, the Q6 e-tron debuts as either a standard quattro model or the powerful SQ6. Keep reading to find out more, including our impressions from some hands-on time with the Q6 e-tron in a studio.

Audi Q6 e-tron: design and styling

The Q6 e-tron’s styling is pretty familiar, but debuts some new features for Audi SUVs. At the front, there’s the brand’s signature grille – as with other e-tron electric models, it’s filled in with a louvred pattern, and flanked by large air intakes.

The sides feature a low window line over prominent ‘blistered’ wheelarches – those at the back are notably wider than the upper half of the car. There are styling lines extending rearwards from the daytime running lights and forward from the taillights, while the lower portion of the doors features black accents to make the sides look more sculpted. The rear is pretty boxy, as befits a proper SUV – although Carwow’s spy photographers have spotted a more sloping Q6 e-tron Sportback which will join the range at a later date.

The headlights are a new design for Audi and take a leaf out of the Nissan Juke’s book, with slim daytime running lights featured above while the main headlight units themselves are integrated into the air intakes and much less prominent.

Those daytime running lights feature Audi’s latest signature Matrix LEDs, which can display customisable patterns – the taillights can do the same. Each pattern has its own welcome and goodbye animation, too, so you can personalise the way the car greets you.

The high-performance SQ6 stands out with aluminium accents on the grille, front bumper, rear bumper and side skirts replacing the gloss black of the standard quattro model.

At 4,771mm long, the Q6 e-tron is around 200mm shorter than the Q8 e-tron but it’s 90mm longer than a Q5, not to mention 70mm wider – it’s a large car. Wheel options range from 18- to 21-inches, with the sporty SQ6 getting 20-inch wheels as standard.

Audi Q6 e-tron: interior and practicality

There’s a whole new style of Audi interior that debuts with the Q6 e-tron. It’s more minimalist than any that have come before it, with very few physical buttons – continuing the trend set by many recent electric cars.

What you do get is plenty of screen. An 11.9-inch driver’s display sits under the same seamless sheet of glass as a massive 14.5-inch infotainment display. Separate to this is an optional 10.9-inch passenger display, which mirrors many of the same functions and allows passengers to control media or check information on the move. However, the driver can still see the passenger display on the move, unlike some cars such as the Porsche Cayenne which have a filter to keep this from distracting the driver.

There’s also a large head-up display on some models with augmented reality features. You can even play a couple of cool 3D games on this while you’re stationary.

Actual physical switchgear is limited to the gear selector, a volume knob, buttons for the drive select and hazard lights, and the steering wheel. There’s also a very busy panel on the door that controls the mirrors, lights, central locking and seat memory.

First impressions are pretty good, but we’re not sure how easy all these functions will be to use on the move – and while voice control is included, when we tried it out it wasn’t notably accurate for things like adjusting the climate control.

What’s easier to praise is the environment and build quality. While the cabin materials are all dark, there’s loads of configurable ambient lighting, and the windows are large enough that it doesn’t feel claustrophobic. Material quality is also top-notch, and we especially like the fabric strip that runs from door to door, breaking up the lines of the dashboard.

It feels far more solid inside than a Mercedes EQE SUV, though the BMW iX feels better still with more interesting material choices and even better build quality.

Practicality is also pretty good. There’s plenty of storage up front, with a wireless phone charger, cupholders and a big storage space under the centre armrest.

The rear offers reasonable, if not palatial, legroom, and there’s no transmission tunnel to contend with so it’s easy for middle seat passengers to get comfy too. Meanwhile the boot offers 526 litres of space, plus there’s a 64-litre ‘frunk’ ideal for storing charging cables.

The Q6 e-tron can also tow up to 2.4 tonnes, joining a fairly small group of EVs that can actually tow – though expect your range to plummet if you make use of this.

Audi Q6 e-tron: batteries, motors, range and performance

Two versions of the Q6 e-tron will be available initially, both with a 100kWh battery pack. The normal model, named the Q6 e-tron quattro (small q!) has 387hp on tap from its two electric motors, and is capable of 0-62mph in 5.9s.

That’s a little faster than entry-level versions of either the EQE SUV or the BMW iX, and it has more range than either of them too – up to an official 385 miles compared to 341 from the EQE or just 264 from the iX.

The sportier model is the SQ6 e-tron, which ups power to 489hp – or 517hp in short bursts, when using Launch Control. That’s good for 0-62mph in just 4.3 seconds – even quicker than an EQE 500 or iX xDrive 50. Range does drop to 372 miles, but that’s still more than the Mercedes or the BMW can manage.

Part of this is down to how advanced the Q6 e-tron’s new platform is. Developed with Porsche, it makes the old Q8 e-tron look rather antiquated. The Q6’s electric motors take up 30 per cent less space, and weigh 20 per cent less than those on the first-generation cars.

Charging speeds are really impressive too. From a suitably powerful DC charger, the Q6 e-tron can top up at a rate of 270kW – far faster than the iX or EQE SUV. That means that despite the vast battery pack, a 10-80% charge will take just 21 minutes, and you’ll be able to add 160 miles of range in just 10 minutes – the EV equivalent of a splash ‘n’ dash.

Lower-end models of the Q6 e-tron will launch later on in the car’s lifetime, including a rear-wheel drive model. Though Audi hasn’t confirmed it, we’d also expect a ballistically powerful RS Q6 e-tron to launch, bringing the fight to the BMW iX M60 and Mercedes-AMG EQE SUV 53.

Audi Q6 e-tron: how much does it cost and when can I buy one?

Pricing for the Q6 e-tron starts from £68,975 for the quattro model. That undercuts the iX by a few thousand pounds and the EQE SUV by more than £20,000, though both of those cars do best the Q6 on luxury. The SQ6 e-tron brings this up to £92,950.

Full specifications and trim details will be revealed at the end of April. You can expect the Q6 e-tron to go on sale fully in the second half of 2024, not long after the Porsche Macan EV.

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