Audi readying its electric sports car concept

By Larry Dignan | Sep 14, 2009 |

Audi appears to be prepping its entry into the electric car race based on some odd clues the automaker has been sending around to press types.

Usually I don’t give packages much of a look, but this one was rather large for your typical press kit.

After opening the package from Audi I found a kite that said:

9.15.09
ElectricityUntamed.com


The key drive that Audi provided featured three quirky video clips and a riff on Ben Franklin’s discovery of electricity and how he used to take it at face value. But then electricity went from being “both feared and revered” to “underutilized” and “wussified.”

Clearly, Audi is going the viral marketing route.

Audi also mocks “glorified golf carts with license plates.”

Sure sounds like Audi has an electric sports car on tap. Look out Tesla.

Update: Auto Week has a take on Audi’s e-Tron concept car. Here’s a snippet:

One of the highlights of Audi’s Frankfurt auto show display is the e-Tron, an electronic high-performance sports car.

The car looks like Audi’s mighty R8, while the packaging allows for the specific realities of an electric vehicle.

 

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Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic. He was most recently Executive Editor of News and Blogs at ZDNet. Prior to that he was executive news editor at eWeek and news editor at Baseline. He also served as the East Coast news editor and finance editor at CNET News.com. Larry has covered the technology and financial services industry since 1995, publishing articles in WallStreetWeek.com, Inter@ctive Week, The New York Times, and Financial Planning magazine. He's a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism and the University of Delaware.

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Larry Dignan

Larry Dignan has nothing to disclose. He doesn't hold investments in the technology companies he covers.

Andrew Nusca

Andrew J. Nusca is an associate editor for ZDNet and SmartPlanet. As a journalist based in New York City, he has written for Popular Mechanics and Men's Vogue and his byline has appeared in New York magazine, The Huffington Post, New York Daily News, Editor & Publisher, New York Press and many others. He also writes The Editorialiste, a media criticism blog.

He is a New York University graduate and former news editor and columnist of the Washington Square News. He is a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He has been named "Howard Kurtz, Jr." by film critic John Lichman despite having no relation to him. A native of Philadelphia, he lives in New York with his fiancée and his cat, Spats.

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Andrew Nusca

Andrew J. Nusca does not hold any investments in the technology companies he covers.
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