Audi E-Tron production goes on temporary hiatus
Audi has temporarily idled production of its E-Tron electric crossover due to battery shortages, highlighting the challenges faced by mainstream automakers as they move to electrify their lineups.
Production at the company's Brussels, Belgium, production line halted Thursday, Bloomberg reports, to allow Audi to address battery supply bottlenecks. According to the news service, Audi sold more than 26,000 E-Trons in 2019, including the more than 5,000 examples that were sold in the United States. The planned shutdown will be brief; Audi plans to resume production Tuesday.
Volkswagen's luxury subsidiary is planning to expand the E-Tron lineup to include a new, sleeker Sportback model; a high-performance variant (perhaps of both body styles) is reportedly also in the works. It's unclear for the moment how battery supply shortages may impact Audi's road map for expanding its new EV's presence.
In addition to adding new variants, Audi is working to improve the core model with incremental updates to its powertrain. Updates have already unlocked approximately 15 miles of additional range from the E-Tron's existing battery pack; whether those changes will be incorporated into future models destined for the U.S. still remains to be seen.
While the E-Tron is currently Audi's electric spearhead, it has been reported that the crossover's nameplate will survive only one generation. Like rival BMW, Audi will begin folding its electric models into its existing product lineup, ditching dedicated EV nameplates in favor of electrified variants of existing models.
Audi isn't the only major player experiencing EV production issues. Rival Mercedes-Benz has delayed the U.S. introduction of its new E-Tron competitor, the EQC, by a year. While parent company Daimler denies that battery supply is to blame, both issues highlight the difficulty automakers have faced in scaling up production of new electric cars.
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