Get ready for the all-electric Audi

Audi is working on an all-new pure-electric car. Talking to TopGear.com following the reveal of the Prologue concept, design director Marc Lichte let slip that, among the numerous models his 400-strong team is working on, a ground-up pure electric contender is currently being evaluated.

"I'll tell you a secret. The one I'm really excited about is the battery electric car," said Lichte. "It will be something totally different. I don't like the word ‘radical', but it will be... different. Everyone in my department is crazy to work on this car."

That points to an all-new EV, on a bespoke platform unrelated to the MQB architecture widely used across the VW group, introducing a bold aesthetic that uses the battery tech to liberate the design process.

"Tesla has done a great job," Lichte admits, "and the Model S is handsome. But it's also conventional looking, and the nature of the technology means we can do something that looks very different."

He wouldn't confirm Audi was planning to create a new sub-brand similar to BMW's i car range to bolster its A, Q, R, and TT product lines, due to encompass 60 separate models by 2020, but TG.com thinks it's highly likely.

Lichte also says that, as well as the new monster Q8 - confirmed yesterday by Audi R&D boss Dr Ulrich Hackenberg - the Sport Quattro concept is "still alive, yes. And it's very impressive. We've shown three show cars, I think, in three different colours. The next one will be the production car. Hopefully..."

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Meanwhile the highly impressive Prologue effectively showcases three new Audis in one car: 2015's all-new A8, as well as the next A7 and A6 models. Beyond the now-established single-frame grille, Lichte suggests that there will be greater visual differentiation between the different models in the future.

He cites the brilliant late '80s IMSA 90 Quattro racer, the ‘ugly beautiful' Quattro short wheelbase Group B rally car and the revolutionary 1982 aero ground-breaker 100 as personal influences.

"I want to emphasise Quattro in every Audi," he continues. "It's a big opportunity for us to differentiate ourselves from our competitors..."

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Pictured: Audi R8 e-tron