BEST NEW CARS 2022

Thinking about buying a new car in the next 12 months? Here’s our guide to all the models you’ll want to wait for

- George Hill

Electric cars

LATE 2022

Audi Q6 e-tron

Can fast charging and 300 miles of electric range give this SUV the edge over BMW iX3 and Jaguar I-Pace rivals?

ONE OF THE biggest drawbacks of being part of a large family is having to put up with hand-me-downs. In the case of the Audi Q6 e-tron, though, hand-me-downs are a good thing, because the ones it gets are more Gucci than Granny’s jumper.

You see, the Q6 is a sibling model to the fully electric Porsche Macan (see p11), and both SUVs use an updated version of the mechanicals that underpin the brilliant Audi E-tron GT and Porsche Taycan performance cars.

As a result, you can expect the Q6 to have a 90-100kWh battery, giving it a range of around 300 miles between charges – in line with what you get from other large electric SUVs. The BMW iX3, for example, has an official range of 285 miles and the Jaguar I-Pace’s is 292 miles.

Like the E-tron GT and Taycan, the Q6 e-tron should feature 800-volt charging functionality, allowing it to take on electricity at speeds of up to 270kW. That’s fast enough to get the battery from 10-80% in around 20 minutes (if you can find a suitably powerful charging point, of course).

The looks of the Q6 will be heavily influenced by the E-tron quattro concept car, as well as existing electric Audis. That means it will have a large, closed-off front grille, strong rear haunches and a rear light bar running across the full width of the car. A coupé-styled Q6 e-tron Sportback model is expected in 2023.