Audi Q6 Electric 'SUV Coupe' Arrives In 2018 Or 2019: CEO

It's now clear that we'll see a slew of all-electric luxury vehicles with ranges of 200 miles or more from German makers Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz starting in 2017 or 2018.

What's less clear is whether those vehicles will be developed as electric cars from the ground up or whether they'll be adapted versions of gasoline models.

The current BMW i3 electric car has no gasoline-only counterpart, for example, so it's an example of the former--but the Volkswagen e-Golf is all but indistinguishable from gasoline and diesel Golfs.

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One of those German luxury electric cars seems likely to share much of its understructure, if not its body shell, with gasoline models.

According to Britain's Auto Express, the upcoming Audi A6 electric "SUV coupe" will be "sexy and sporty"--and arrive in 2018 or 2019.

Audi confirmed production of the Q6 electric car at its annual meeting last month, releasing a teaser sketch that indeed showed a low, sleek coupe-like hatchback with large wheels.

Then Audi CEO Rupert Stadler told Auto Express at the Shanghai Auto Show that the Q6 would have at least 500 km (310 miles) of range, calling that distance "a must."

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Stadler was likely quoting range numbers from the European test cycle, so the rated range of the Audi Q6 on the U.S. EPA cycle might come in at more like 250 miles.