With gas prices on the rise and stricter global emissions standards looming on the horizon, most of the world’s automakers are scrambling to produce some form of an electric vehicle. Volkswagen has already shown us its version of the zero-emissions electric car in the form of the Up! concept, but it looks as though the production Up! won’t be exclusive to the VW badge.
According to Audi board member Peter Schwarzenbauer, Audi is moving forward with plans to bring an all-electric city car to market. “We will offer a pure electric car,” he told Autocar.
Although it was widely believed that Audi ’s first electric car would be based on the A1 – which was shown in concept form at this year’s Paris Motor Show – Schwarzenbauer revealed that the company’s first EV would actually be based on the production VW Up!. The Up! – which will wear the Lupo nameplate in production-guise – will be shared across VW’s brand, but Audi’s version will likely be the first electric iteration of the car.
The yet-to-be-named electric Audi model will stow its battery pack at the rear of the car, but now word if the car’s battery will be of the lithium-ion variety.
With an all-electric MINI Cooper rumored to be bound for November’s LA Auto Show, you can bet Audi’s EV plans are moving forward at full speed, with a concept version likely to appear sometime in 2009.
