Carlos Sainz won the first stage victory for Audi in the Dakar Rally. The Spaniard covered the 255-kilometer section around Al Arabia in nearly 2 hours and 53 minutes. Hank Lategan finished second with Toyota in just 38 seconds, and Sainz teammate Stefan Peterhansel finished third.

The battle

The three-time Dakar winner was behind Lategan for most of the stage. Carlos did not allow the South African to take a serious lead. In the last kilometers, the Audi driver overtook Hank and recorded the 40th stage success and the first one for an electric car. Third place went to Peterhansel, who returned to the race thanks to the new rules. The Frenchman lost more than 20 hours on the first day and lost all chances for a good performance.

Nani Roma finished fourth in the Prodrive buggy, followed by Matthias Extreme in Audi’s third car and Yazid Al Raji in a private Toyota. The top 10 was supplemented by the teammates in the factory team of the Japanese Ginel de Villier and Nasser Al-Atiya, Lucio Alvarez with the other private Toyota. The tenth place went to Roma teammate Orlando Terranova. The winner of the second day, Sebastian Loeb, had technical problems, which caused him to lose about half an hour.

The German manufacturer Audi has completed the range of its electric crossovers Audi Q4 e-tron and Q4 Sportback e-tron.

Sales will start in early summer with two new modifications. Their prices are already known, and the brand’s dealers are already accepting orders for them.

The current version Q4 40 e-tron with one electric motor with 204 hp. on the rear axle and a battery with a capacity of 77 kW / h was previously available only in the traditional version. But now is available as a cross-coupe. And because the Sportback is more efficient in terms of aerodynamics, it can travel 534 km (WLTP cycle) on a single charge.

This is 14 km more than the standard Q4 with the same unit, which turns the coupe-like modification into a mileage record in the family. The price of this model is 49,500 euros.

The other novelty is the addition of another modification with four-wheel drive – Q4 45 e-tron quattro. It has 265 hp. and joins the previously offered Audi Q4 / Q4 Sportback 50 e-tron quattro, which has 299 hp.

The new version will be available only in the traditional body version, accelerating from 0 to 100 km / h in 6.9 seconds – 0.7 seconds slower than the Audi Q4 50 e-tron quattro. The mileage is almost identical – 490 km, and the price of the electric SUV in this modification starts from 50,900 euros.

Audi has unveiled the concept A6 e-tron at the Shanghai Motor Show, which will be up to 95 percent similar to the production model. The four-door liftback, or as it is called in the Sportback company itself, is the first Audi built on the new PPE (Premium Platform Electric) electric platform. The concept is larger than the current A6: it is longer, wider and taller, and the rims are 22 inches. The drag coefficient is 0.22, more than that of the Mercedes-Benz EQS (0.20).

The A6 e-tron has cameras instead of exterior mirrors, retractable door handles and special matrix headlights that can project navigation signs on the road or information about the remaining battery charge. Whether this technology will get the production car, Audi does not specify.

The Audi A6 e-tron is powered by two electric units (one on the front and one on the rear axle). The total power of the electric motors reaches 476 horsepower and 800 Nm of torque. From standstill to 100 km / h, the electric liftback accelerates in less than 4 seconds.

The battery capacity is 100 kilowatt hours, provides a power reserve of up to 700 kilometers. Express charging from five to 80 percent takes about 25 minutes and in 10 minutes you can increase mileage by about 300 kilometers.

The debut of the new-generation Audi A6 will take place in the second half of 2022, and the model will go on sale in early 2023. Production is organized in factories in Germany and China.