The Chinese automobile market has been in a continuous state of decline since 2018 and has not shown signs of reversing due to the impact of the pandemic in 2020. China’s automobile production and sales in 2020 completed 25.225 million and 25.311 million respectively, a year-on-year decrease of 2% and 1.9%. However, FAW-Volkswagen still maintained its top position with sales of 2.07 million units, basically recovering to the same level as the same period last year.
In this environment, according to Audi’s official data, its annual sales in China last year still reached a “new high”, with a total of 726,300 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 5.4%, of which approximately 675,000 were produced in China, a year-on-year increase of 7%. I can only say that the Chinese people are getting richer based on this “ups and downs” data comparison.
However, in addition to Audi, the electric vehicle industry also experienced growth against the trend. In 2020, China’s new energy vehicle market completed production and sales of 1.366 million and 1.367 million respectively, a year-on-year increase of 7.5% and 10.9%, reaching a historic new high in production and sales volume.
From the data, electric vehicles are the new species that will flourish in the next few years. Fortunately, the current base of electric vehicles is not very large, and the market is not yet fully mature. For traditional brands, there is still a time window for transformation.
However, what surprised me was that Audi and Volkswagen recently announced the discontinuation of internal combustion engine research and development. Such a radical approach also means that their understanding of the “electric transformation” is no longer a plan on the calendar, but an action that needs to be accelerated.
FAW-Volkswagen’s Audi e-tron Sportback and Audi e-tron have brought surprises to the struggling automobile market, and through a three-step plan of “all driving scenarios intelligence, all vehicle touchpoints electrification, and all travel and lifestyle intelligence”, they are gradually transforming from a traditional automobile manufacturer into a mobile travel service provider. Audi has also prepared a 35 billion euro investment plan for the next five years, of which 17 billion euros will be used for future technology research and development, 10 billion euros for electric vehicle research and development, 5 billion euros for hybrid technology research and development, including the PPE Changchun factory’s first-phase investment exceeding 30 billion yuan.
However, I believe that no matter how “heartwarming” the slogan is, ultimately car companies must present it through their products.
Looking at the sales rankings of electric vehicles in China, the attack of the new forces has been very fierce. For a century-old brand like Audi, the road to transformation is also urgent.
Whether the e-tron is worth the money or not may require a test drive to truly find out.
Starting Off With a Mountain Run
We departed from the hotel and arrived at the Qiánghǎi test track. The lead coach didn’t give us much rest time and led the test drive team directly into the closed mountain road.
The weather in Hainan always changes. It had rained heavily the night before the test drive. To be honest, driving a 2.6-ton SUV on slippery mountain roads with various U-turns, and facing the lead coach’s instruction of “everyone can accelerate a bit more” via the intercom, made the adrenaline of the driver in the car fully pumped. In my memory, the last activity where the coach urged us to speed up was the BMW M series circle racing event at the Shanghai Tianma Circuit.
I would say, bring on more “dangerous” test drives like this in the future!
In addition to some common curves, the entire test drive route also included cross axes, gravel paths, cobblestones, and some “primitive” dirt roads.
The cross axis was quite typical. Since electric vehicles have a large battery pack under the chassis, the ground clearance is relatively low, which can cause some trouble when crossing the cross axis. However, with the air suspension, the minimum ground clearance of e-tron can be increased to 213mm. This height is sufficient for passing challenging road sections.
Coupled with the e-quattro electric four-wheel drive system, which eliminates the central differential in the traditional mechanical four-wheel drive system and distributes the torque of the front and rear motors through the electric control system with a response speed as low as 30ms, the quick response can transfer torque from the side without adhesion to the side with adhesion, thereby improving the vehicle’s ability to escape when crossing the cross axis.
To sum up the overall feeling of e-tron’s mountain run, as an SUV, e-tron is quite unexpected, not like some other SUVs on the market. To put it simply, I did not know the limit of the car, but I knew my own limit. For the driver, the car did not back down, but the person did.
For a long time, I have driven the Audi S3 and RS5 models, which gave me the most direct feeling that even if I’m a “driving rookie,” these cars can still give me a strong desire and confidence to drive. After the mountain run, I believe that e-tron also wants to give people this feeling. Throughout the process, Audi’s front five-link and rear multi-link suspension system, combined with air suspension and e-quattro four-wheel drive, all work together on the four 265 / 45 R21-inch tires to enable the driver to enter a curve with higher speeds constantly and to explore the car’s limit.
Bring it on!”During the emergency lane change, the coach reminded us again to maintain a speed of at least 80 km/h. As we transitioned from the mountain driving experience to the track driving experience, he emphasized that Audi set no specific speed limit for this type of test drive event, which was unusual compared to other brands. They typically set a maximum speed limit since they regard this type of test drive as meaningless because nobody would actually drive at that speed on public roads.
But even though I wanted to take a jab at Audi, I’m a rule-follower at heart. Thus, given the limited runway available for “takeoff,” I increased the speed to 95 km/h in order to experience an emergency lane change.
During the first lane change to the left, the e-tron and I were able to transition accurately and confidently. However, the real challenge was the second lane change to the right side since I was going slightly faster but without applying the brakes.
This meant that during the second lane change, the suspension system of the e-tron not only had to bear its own weight, but also had to accommodate the inertia of turning sharply to the left at high speeds. This resulted in the vehicle’s center of gravity shifting to the left side.
Despite the screeching of the tires as they gripped the asphalt, the second lane change was not as easy as the first. Nevertheless, the car’s limits had not been breached – no, it was my limits that had been reached.
In truth, I didn’t think my driving skills were sufficient to push the e-tron to its limits. In conclusion, the emergency lane change in the e-tron was surprisingly exhilarating. It’s worth noting that a luxury SUV measuring 4901 / 1935 / 1640 mm and weighing in at 2.6 tons could deliver a better emergency lane change experience than a two-door steel cannon that weighs just over 1 ton is quite remarkable.
Finally, we arrived at the highlight of the entire test drive experience – the “reserved program,” which was the equivalent of the NASCAR in Qionghai. It looked like the motorcycle stunts that I saw when I was a kid at the circus.”But in the United States, NASCAR is a very popular car racing event. In a country with a population of just over 300 million, more than 150 million people watch the race live every year, and the TV ratings are far higher than those of sports such as baseball, basketball, and football.
Of course, the e-tron is not tested on a nearly elliptical circular track to participate in NASCAR races. It would be eliminated many times just by charging. Instead, it is to test vehicle stability and NVH under high-speed conditions.
As we do not have the relevant qualification certificates for this project, we can only experience it with the coach. It is worth mentioning that this runway was built in the 1980s and there are many bumps and potholes on the road surface. After starting, with the peak output power of 230 kW and peak torque of 540 N·m of front and rear dual asynchronous induction motors, the e-tron quickly reaches a speed of over 150 kilometers per hour. At this current speed, the performance of the e-tron is not much different from that of 120 kilometers per hour.
But I know that for the Audi coach, this is just a “jogging”. With the coach’s sentence, “Take your cameras and phones, we’re going to speed up,” I knew that the “meal” was coming. The vehicle’s speed quickly increased to 192 kilometers per hour.
At this speed, we in the car can still communicate with the coach without yelling. Just when everyone in the car praised the quietness of the e-tron, we quickly entered the elliptical track. At this time, our right hand became abnormally heavy due to the influence of the speed and the earth’s gravity. However, due to the centrifugal force of the e-tron under high-speed operating conditions and the double effect of vehicle adjustment, it was very stable.
It is worth mentioning that the new e-tron’s torsion-resistant stiffness reaches 50,000 newton meters. I won’t talk about other car brands here, the e-tron did not even leave face for its own other models. Is this the legendary “I don’t even spare myself when I am cruel”?
So the test drive ended. Purely from the driving experience, I think the e-tron is similar to the Audi Q8. Perhaps this is also the logic behind Audi’s official statement that “the e-tron is a car that offers great value for the money.”
It is an electric car.
For me, a loyal member of the VAG Family, there are not many surprises in the driving experience of the FAW Volkswagen-Audi e-tron, because I don’t think Audi will “crash” in this area.Let’s take a closer look at the qualities that the e-tron, an electric vehicle, should possess. With the benefit of a large 96.7 kWh battery, it can charge from 5% to 80% in just 40 minutes, providing a range of up to 500 km under NEDC conditions. Audi has also provided real-time dynamic displays of the remaining range, and the e-tron supports a charging speed of 11 kW AC charging.
As a manufacturer known for its lighting design, Audi has accepted the title of “light factory” and calls itself the “reshaper of automotive lighting technology.” During the test drive, the e-tron Sportback’s digital matrix LED headlights were mentioned, which use a technology similar to that found in video projectors to produce a high-resolution light beam with millions of tiny pixel light sources.
These LED beams can be projected onto the road according to actual needs, providing animated projection functions with five different animation effects for dynamic homecoming or departure animations.
In conclusion, after a day of driving experience, I started to ask myself: What kind of car is the Audi e-tron? According to Audi, it is a “pure electric luxury mid-to-large-size SUV.”
The adjectives “pure electric” and “mid-to-large-size” are self-explanatory, but how does one interpret “luxury”?
In the world of gasoline-powered cars, luxury can include high-end brands, genuine leather with stitching, imposing large sizes, multiple-cylinder large displacements, longitudinal-mounted rear-wheel drive, umbrella-folding doors, center console embedded with high-end watches…anything that symbolizes high-quality materials, exquisite design, and upscale configurations is part of this luxurious subset.
Even in the world of electric cars, the essential subsets of luxury remain the same.
I recalled sitting in the passenger seat of the e-tron, chatting with the instructor while doing 190 km/h, and cutting into one bend after another at speeds I had never experienced before in an SUV, and traveling smoothly through off-road sections that would embarrass most urban SUVs. Behind that calm atmosphere and a feeling of being “at home in a strange place,” I could clearly and enthusiastically feel that classic luxury that is inherent in the e-tron.
However, this feeling made me temporarily confused because, having played with modified sports cars for several years and being an electric car owner, I know how different the priorities of electric car users are from those of gasoline-powered car owners concerning the products they use. Compared with content that is more faithful to driving performance and manufacturing standards, electric car owners place a higher priority on the battery, the motor, and intelligent driving features. In today’s market, luxury is certainly good for electric cars, but it is not essential, just as handling is not essential for a D-segment sedan.Those who are fond of sugar-free drinks will not be attracted by the glass jar chilled Coke you offer.
So, in my opinion, e-tron is a great Audi and a confident luxury electric SUV, but users may not prefer it.
However, in this era of intelligence and three-electricity supremacy, this Audi e-tron has left a memorable impression on me, a popular fan in the field of electric vehicle media. While feeling emotional, I thought of the famous quote by Romain Rolland: “There is only one true heroism in the world: to see the world as it is, and to love it.”
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.