Audi’s latest concept is a new all-electric Tesla Model X competitor

Audi’s newest electric vehicle is a crossover SUV with a 4.5-second 0-60mph time, and an impressive range of around 300 miles when its 95kWh battery is topped up. The Audi e-tron Sportback is set for production starting in 2019, and it’s part of Audi’s larger strategy to bring at least three fully electric cars to market by 2020, and to have a quarter of its overall lineup equipped with EV batteries by 2025.

The carmaker is pursuing electric options fairly aggressively, likely part of an overall shift dictated by its parent company Volkswagen, which has been more emphatic about its EV plans since its diesel emissions scandal. The e-tron Sportback definitely sounds like it could be a strong contender to help show that the electric strategy is full of potential for a range of buyers, and it would be nice to see a vehicle that can compete in many ways with Tesla’s gull-wing luxury electric SUV, the Model X.

Audi has already announced the all-electric e-tron quattro, which is set to begin being offered for sale in 2018, and by then, not to mention when the e-tron Sportback hits the market, there should be no shortage of options in the high-end electric SUV market, judging by the announced roadmaps of a number of carmakers.

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Futuristic tech touches make the Audi a sight to behold, including Matrix LED, laser lighting and OLEDs designed to provide new levels of light-based communication with the outside world, as well as passengers within. Based on this and other concepts we’ve seen, if you’re not crazy about the idea of cars becoming “expressive” anthropomorphized futurist love bugs, the future isn’t for you.

The e-tron Sportback also all but does away with blind spots thanks to strategically positioned cameras that pipe real-time images to displays built into the interior of the car’s doors, giving you a view as to what’s going on all around.