Currently reading: Audi to unveil AI:Trail quattro electric off-roader at Frankfurt
The off-road machine will be the fourth in a series of electric concept cars from Audi

Audi will showcase an electric off-road concept car called the AI:Trail quattro at this year’s Frankfurt motor show.

The firm has released a single teaser image of the machine, and has simply described it as “an electrically driven off-roader.” The image shows a buggy-like four-seater sitting on large off-road tyres, and with large glass elements on the side doors. The use of the quattro name confirms the machine will feature four-wheel-drive.

The machine completes a quartet of electric concepts that Audi has released, which showcase differing visions for future machines. They started with the Aicon concept car at the 2017 Frankfurt show, an autonomous machine designed for long-distance cruises between cities.

That was followed by the PB18 e-tron, a low-slung sports car that likely previews the next-gen R8. The most recent machine was the AI:ME, an autonomous ready city car that showcases a future electric hatch based on the VW Group’s MEB electric car platform.

The AI:Trail quattro appears to have compact dimensions similar to the AI:ME, and could also make use of the MEB platform. That architecture has already been used for the Volkswagen ID Buggy off-roader, showcasing the production potential for an electric version of such a machine.

Read more

Audi designers pushing PB18 e-tron supercar for production

Audi AI:ME concept hints at future Volkswagen ID rival

First drive: Volkswagen ID Buggy

James Attwood

James Attwood, digital editor
Title: Acting magazine editor

James is Autocar's acting magazine editor. Having served in that role since June 2023, he is in charge of the day-to-day running of the world's oldest car magazine, and regularly interviews some of the biggest names in the industry to secure news and features, such as his world exclusive look into production of Volkswagen currywurst. Really.

Before first joining Autocar in 2017, James spent more than a decade in motorsport journalist, working on Autosport, autosport.com, F1 Racing and Motorsport News, covering everything from club rallying to top-level international events. He also spent 18 months running Move Electric, Haymarket's e-mobility title, where he developed knowledge of the e-bike and e-scooter markets. 

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Acstede 25 August 2019

what a fantastic way to stop people coming to your website

what a fantastic way to stop people coming to your website - hijacked comments section. it is now pointless coming to autocar i will be deleting my bookmark then if i do happen to type in the website again, which is probably unlikely. Same happened with Autosport when you got less and less free pages to view.

TheDriver 24 August 2019

Lost control

Really Autocar, spam seems to be reaching epic proportions in your forums. Don’t you care or are you technically incapable of sorting this out? It’s really spoiling how readers can look at and contribute to your articles.

Rods 24 August 2019

Sort out the Spam, Autocar...

It blights these comments sections.

Also, was there a competition on to see how many instances of the word 'machine' you could fit into an article?