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Audi e-tron quattro cabin design

Audi e-tron quattro cabin design Audi e-tron quattro cabin design Audi e-tron quattro cabin design Audi e-tron quattro cabin design Audi e-tron quattro cabin design Audi e-tron quattro cabin design Audi e-tron quattro cabin design Audi e-tron quattro cabin design Audi e-tron quattro cabin design Audi e-tron quattro cabin design Audi e-tron quattro cabin design Audi e-tron quattro cabin design Audi e-tron quattro cabin design Audi e-tron quattro cabin design Audi e-tron quattro cabin design Audi e-tron quattro cabin design Audi e-tron quattro cabin design Audi e-tron quattro cabin design Audi e-tron quattro cabin design Audi e-tron quattro cabin design Audi e-tron quattro cabin design Audi e-tron quattro cabin design Audi e-tron quattro cabin design
New all-electric SUV from Audi gets digital door mirrors.

What's the news?

I know what you're thinking. You're glancing at these photos of the cabin of the upcoming Audi e-tron quattro, the German firm's first all-electric SUV, and thinking: "Yup, looks just like the cabin from the A8. And the A7. And the new A6. Next..."

But wait, because there's more. Actually, there's less. Less in the way of wing mirrors, anyway, because the e-tron will be one of the first production cars to do away with conventional side mirrors, and instead use high-def rear facing cameras mounted to the outside of the doors.

Obviously, there's a benefit in terms of aerodynamics - the cameras are smaller and flatter than a conventional mirror, so the e-tron's exterior becomes much more slippery. Inside, their images are projected onto seven-inch OLED screens mounted in the corners of the doors (and which are shaped to look just like normal mirrors because, y'know, familiarity is nice). Using the touchscreen control, you wiggle the image about, even zoom in and out, and there are three pre-sets; one for motorway driving, one for turning corners, and one for parking.

While the rest of the cabin does indeed look very familiar (the same double-deck screen layout as the A7 and A8, the same 12.3-inch Virtual Cockpit digital instrument panel) there is sufficient newness in here that Audi chose to take over the Royal Danish Playhouse theatre in Copenhagen to show off its new cabin. Part of that, of course, might be because of the Danish-designed Bang & Olufsen sound system, which has 16 speakers and 705-watts of power, and which Audi claims "reproduces the music precisely how it was recorded."

As for the rest of the cabin, there is a 'floating' design for the centre console, with a skeletal support for the gear shifter, highlighted with ambient light effects. The whole dash wraps around the bottom of the windscreen for a more enclosing effect, while there's lots of Valcona leather and brushed aluminium too.

The stitching on the seats is meant to evoke the look of a circuit board, and you can have that picked out in a contrasting orange if you like.

Audi is also trumpeting the interior space of the e-tron, helped by the fact that its batteries are under the floor and the three electric motors are compact and more easily packaged than a big engine, gearbox, and driveshafts. There's a leg-stretching 2,978mm wheelbase, while space in the back seat is helped by the fact that there's a flat floor - no centre tunnel here - which should make for better comfort for those sitting in the centre rear seat.

The cabin is also said to be exceptionally calm and quiet. Part of that is, of course, down to the lack of a combustion engine, but Audi says that it's also worked very hard to eliminate wind noise at higher speeds.

The e-tron quattro is set to go on sale by the end of this year.

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Published on July 5, 2018