{"id":663465,"date":"2026-10-23T21:42:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T21:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/663465\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T21:42:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T21:42:09","slug":"audi-launches-its-entry-level-electric-ev-with-the-a2-e-tron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/663465\/","title":{"rendered":"Audi launches its entry-level electric EV with the A2 e-tron"},"content":{"rendered":"

Words by Donal Byrne. Video by Leah Carroll.<\/p>\n

The trend towards more affordable Ev, following a lengthy period of high prices, is a welcome development, but it\u2019s still a surprise to discover a premium brand moving in the same direction.<\/p>\n

This week, Audi launched its entry-level EV in Ireland, the A2 e-tron, replacing both the A1 and the Q2.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s quite likely that Audi was looking over its shoulder at the strong performance and pricing of its stablemate, CUPRA, when deciding on equipment levels and pricing.<\/p>\n

The result is a car that starts at \u20ac38,200, after grants, but one that doesn\u2019t look like it was dominated by budgetary considerations. It\u2019s an elegant car and has a strong profile, coming in at 4.2 metres long and 1.2 metres. It has some definite styling cues from the original A2.<\/p>\n

\"AudiA2<\/p>\n

There is that familiar sloping roof, and there\u2019s quite a large spoiler on the rear windscreen, which might not be great for visibility. There is a rear camera, but I\u2019ve found cameras can be a challenge on days of filthy weather.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a curious touch on the doors, with winglets replacing traditional handles, but I\u2019m not all that impressed with them, protruding as they do.<\/p>\n

Yes, they do add to the car’s aerodynamic profile, which has an impressively low drag of 0.24, as does the spoiler, but I wasn\u2019t entirely convinced as to whether they really add to the car.<\/p>\n

The front of the car is a familiar Audi offering, and the rear is particularly smart, with narrow LED lighting<\/p>\n

The entry-level price is attractive, but the car we saw had extras such as 20″ wheels – 18″ being the standard – and a panoramic sunroof. The former adds \u20ac1,590, and the latter adds \u20ac1,539, so the optional extras do add up, as they do on many new cars. So, the S-Line version we were shown creeps up to \u20ac48,925, and all the extras could bring it up to \u20ac57,902.<\/p>\n

\"Audi<\/p>\n

The interior is very nice, with a premium feel throughout because of the use of soft materials, and upfront everything feels comfortable and there is a good screen that does not dominate.<\/p>\n

The rear, however, is a bit of a squeeze if you\u2019re tall, and the battery location involves some compromise on things like thigh support. The boot is a very decent 396 litres.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t note any great presence of physical buttons, despite the VW group, which includes Audi, vowing to move back to them with their new cars.<\/p>\n

There are two battery options, a 52 kWh unit with a claimed range of 421 kilometres and a 61 kWh unit with a claimed range of 498 kilometres.<\/p>\n

At this stage, you should be familiar with my reservations about claimed ranges from car manufacturers when real-world conditions are taken into account. The fast charging time is 26 minutes, as long as you can find a charger that will deliver quickly enough.<\/p>\n

Audi’s new arrival is certainly an interesting proposition in the current market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Words by Donal Byrne. Video by Leah Carroll. The trend towards more affordable Ev, following a lengthy period…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":663466,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,61,60],"class_list":["post-663465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=663465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/663465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/663466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=663465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=663465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=663465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}