Form a Q! Audi drops e-tron badge for refreshed electric SUV

Audi’s first full battery electric vehicle, the e-tron SUV, is changing names and will adopt the Q8 e-tron moniker as part of its mid-life update.

Audi issued a shadowy teaser image confirming the updated EV will be revealed later this week.

The German carmaker’s naming strategy for its electrified models has been somewhat confusing to date.

Up to now, the e-tron badge has been used for a number of plug-in hybrid models, like the A3, Q7 and more, but Audi also used the e-tron moniker for its first EV.

Confusingly, the company’s Porsche Taycan-related all-electric sports sedan is dubbed the e-tron GT.

Audi CEO Markus Duesmann confirmed last year that the Q8 e-tron would be the successor to the e-tron SUV when the new-generation version lands in 2026, but it wasn’t known then that the model would switch names this early.

The Q8 already exists in Audi’s SUV line-up as a petrol and diesel-powered five-seat large SUV that sits above the closely related Q7.

As with the current e-tron, the Q8 e-tron will be available in regular SUV bodystyle, as well as Sportback, which is Audi speak for a coupe-style SUV with a tapered roofline.

The current e-tron landed in late 2020.

The new moniker makes sense given Audi already offers the Q4 compact electric SUV. That model has been confirmed for Australia but won’t arrive until 2024.

It is unclear if the e-tron GT will change names too, or if that will remain as is.

Camouflaged images released by Audi in September show that facelifted e-tron - now Q8 e-tron - will feature sharper styling, with a redesigned front bumper and grille as well as other touches.

The e-tron arrived in Australia in late 2020, and competes with models like the Tesla Model X, Jaguar I-Pace, Mercedes-Benz EQC and BMW iX and iX3.

It may be Audi’s first EV, but it is not built on a dedicated EV platform, instead it is underpinned by Volkswagen Group’s MLBevo platform that forms the basis of the Audi Q5 and Q7, Volkswagen Touareg, Porsche Cayenne and Lamborghini Urus.

The Q4, however, uses the all-electric MEB platform.