Audi TT Offroad Concept Is Wireless And Weird

Combine a sporty coupe with the chassis of a compact SUV, sprinkle it with some wireless charging technology, and you get the Audi TT offroad concept. It’s weird. It’s wireless. It packs more than 400 horsepower and fuel economy 123 MPGe. Too bad it’s just a concept.

Adding a pair of doors to the Audi TT and stretching it out gives us the basic body style, though the chassis obviously has off-roading in mind. The plug-in drivetrain is similar to previous Audi concept vehicles like the Audi Allroad, Nanuck, and Sport Quattro concepts, offering limited electric driving and heaps upon heaps of horsepower.

In the case of the Audi TT offroad concept, a 2.0 liter turbo provides 292 horsepower, with another 116 horsepower coming coming from a pair of electric motors, for a total output of 408 horsepower and 479 ft-lbs of torque. That makes for a theoretical 0 to 62 MPH run of about 5.2 seconds, and the 12 kWh battery offers enough juice for up to 31 miles of electric driving range.

While just a concept, Audi oddly decided to include wireless charging technology as part of the package. It’s a strange addition for an off-road concept vehicle, and with just two paragraphs of a lengthy press release devoted to the wireless tech, it could simply be a feature added at the last moment for additional press exposure. Audi is working with companies like WiTricity (which also did projects for Toyota) to bring wireless EV and plug-in hybrid charging to the masses.

As for the Audi TT offroad? It will make its rounds on the show car circuit before being parked in what I assume is Audi’s high-tech, underground car vault, waiting for another day to inspire the future.

Source: Audi

Audi Allroad Shooting Brake showcar is a 124-MPGe hybrid E-Tron

The leaked images (below) of the new Audi Allroad Shooting Brake that came out Friday showed us what the show car will look like, but it wasn't until the official press release came out today that we learned just how much E-Tron is hiding in its powertrain. Turns out, it's a lot.

An 8.8-kWh lithium-ion battery can power the car for over 31 miles.

The Allroad Shooting Brake is powered by a hybrid (gas-electric) powertrain that can put out a total of 300 kW of power (479.42 pound feet of torque) and, under the right circumstances, get the fuel efficiency equivalent of 123.8 mpg US, Audi claims. The gas side is made up of a 2.0-liter four-cylinder turbocharged engine, and then there's an electric motor on each axle. An 8.8-kWh lithium-ion battery can power the car for over 31 miles on battery power alone. There are three drive modes (EV, Hybrid and Sport).

This is also the first time Audi has put its Allroad and E-Tron "form languages" together, which means this E-Tron Quattro "is not limited to paved roads" and can handle "light off-road conditions." The two electric motors help bring the car from 0-62 miles per hour in 4.6 seconds on up to a top speed of 155 mph. Audi has paid attention to shaving weight from the 3527-pound, four-seater, including making the wheels out of carbon-fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) and using an aluminum underbody panel.

We described some of the concept's visual hints in the original post (Q1?), and now Audi says that the car contains "a host of visual elements of future sports car models" (TT?). We will get our first real glimpse of the Allroad Shooting Brake show car at the Detroit Auto Show early this week, so look for live pics then, especially of the interior that is supposed to be reminiscent of an airplane and a user interface panel that is said to work like a smart phone. In the new press release, Audi's Ulrich Hackenberg said the Allroad Shooting Brake represents, "a concrete look into the near future," and we're totally fine with that.

News Source: Audi