tuningblog.eu Your magazine about tuning the car
Recently updated on October 4, 2021 at 09:28 am
Electric, efficient and emotional: Audi Q4 e-tron and Q4 Sportback e-tron
this article passes different Pages
Audi's electric offensive continues to pick up speed: on the large SUV models e-tron and e-tron Sportback as well as the sporty ones e-tron GT quattro2 and RS e-tronGT3 now follow the Q4 e-tron and the Q4 Sportback e-tron. The two new models play a central role in the brand's electrification strategy because they are entering a particularly fast-growing market segment: the compact SUV class. For Audi customers, they offer an attractively priced entry into the world of premium electric mobility.
Strong presence: the exterior design
Powerful body, high front, expressive rear section - the Q4 e-tron and the Q4 Sportback e-tron radiate a strong presence, they are instantly recognizable as electric Audi SUVs. The two compact electric SUVs bring the progressive design that the brand introduced in early 2019 with the Q4 e-tron concept and the Q4 Sportback e-tron concept, as the next step in the design language of the electric Audi models. Its sporty character is created by striking proportions - short front overhangs, large wheels, a wide track and powerfully formed muscles. All lines are drawn with maximum precision, the surface treatment appears clear and reduced.
The high, upright front already symbolizes the robustness and strength of the Audi Q4 e-tron and the Q4 Sportback e-tron. Its dominant element is the large single frame - with its eight corners it is characteristic of an Audi SUV. The closed version and the inverted color design are new and typically e-cars: the chrome frame is framed by a wide mask in a dark contrasting paint finish, and a structured surface with horizontal inserts is used for the radiator grille. As a full-surface element, the four rings integrate various sensors that disappear behind the brand logo - a novelty at Audi. A strongly contoured, curved blade extends under the single frame, which runs steeply upwards at the ends.
Sporty flow: the roof line
When viewed from the side, the unusually flat A-pillars catch the eye - they bring the entire greenhouse into an elegant flow. The roof line spans low over the body of the car; in the Sportback it ends in a long D-pillar. In a countermovement, the third side window runs upwards - a typical Sportback feature. Its tip is aimed at the spoiler, which sits on the lower area of the split rear window. With the Q4 e-tron, in which a roof edge spoiler closes the sturdy D-pillar, a black insert strip runs over the entire roof arch. It visually separates the rear end of the roof from the rest of the body and makes it seem floating - an effect that emphasizes the sporty character of the car.
The flanks of the two electric SUVs are modeled with suspense. In both models, the exterior mirror sits on the door panel in the style of a sports car. The doors have superimposed horizontal edges on which light and shadow play. In the lower area of the doors, striking contours indicate the high-voltage battery, the power center of the car. The muscular blisters that stretch over the wheel arches expressively emphasize the wheels and point to Audi's quattro expertise. They are drawn a little softer and more flowing than the models with a combustion engine. The rear blisters run around the D-pillars and into the luggage compartment lid.
Horizontal lines along the entire rear section emphasize the width, while the raised diffuser adds a strong, sporty accent. There's a in the bumper e-tron Embossed lettering, as well as in the context of the single frame.
Eight colors, two exterior lines: Color and Trim
The paint fan for the Audi Q4 e-tron and the Q4 Sportback e-tron contains eight colors; with their reserved character, they are inspired by the colors and shades of nature. The plain paint is called pebble gray, the metallic tones are named aurora violet (new), floret silver, geyser blue, glacier white, myth black, navarra blue and typhoon gray. Aurora violet is a color from Audi Sport.
Audi supplies both models as an alternative to the basic version in the exterior lines Advanced and S line. In the basic version, the wheel arches, the lower area of the bumper and the diffuser are grained in anthracite, while the gloss package sets accents on the side windows. The Singleframe also differs depending on the line - in the S line, chrome elements give it its own look. Here and in the Advanced line, the lower add-on parts have a contrasting paint finish in Manhattan gray, metallic, with the optional full paint finish, customers can choose from four colors, and there are also 19 or 20-inch aluminum wheels. The look is even sportier with the black styling package including the black caps for the exterior mirrors. The four rings on the single frame and the type designation are also available in black. With the Q4 e-tronis a roof rail series.
The headlights: four digital and individually selectable daytime running light signatures to choose from
The headlights of the Q4 are already standard e-tron and the Q4 Sportback e-tron fully equipped with LEDs. On request, Audi offers the Matrix LED headlights - they give the two electric compact SUVs an appearance that is as strong as it is unmistakable, day and night. The next stage in the evolution of daytime running lights is completely new to the competition: in the MMI touch operating system, the driver can choose from four digital light signatures at any time. Each of them generates its own theme and gives the daytime running lights an individual expression. The selected variant will be active the next time the vehicle is started.
Visually and technically, the Matrix LED headlights are divided into two areas. The units for the low beam and the Matrix LED high beam are hidden in the completely black lower half. The 16 individual LEDs that make up it are regulated so that they always illuminate the road as brightly as possible without dazzling other road users.
The upper half forms a light eye. A flat segment runs right through the headlight, which has a dual function and generates a fixed daytime running light and the dynamic turn signal. Above and below it are a total of nine flat daytime running light segments which, together with the large vertical anchor segment on the outer edge, can be configured to form four digital light signatures. Two lamellar panels made of brushed stainless steel divide the digital daytime running light segments into 49 small areas. Viewed from the side, they appear to be heavily shielded like the slats of a vertical blind, and from the front the individual light segments can be seen with their full power - a fascinating light-and-shadow effect.
Striking tail light signature: the light strip at the rear
In conjunction with the Matrix LED headlights, there is also a particularly elegant lighting solution at the rear of the compact electric SUV. A strip of lights runs across its full width, radiating the taillight in the middle as a fine line and breaking up into separate segments at its ends. Each individual segment is modeled as a three-dimensional body, so that an expressive light sculpture is created from all perspectives. On the side of the vehicle, the light signature ends in a large light anchor segment. Its dynamic graphics are inspired by filigree conductor tracks and have the four rings shining in signature red as a central detail. The dynamic turn signal sets a further highlight in the rear lights.
When unlocking and leaving the car, dynamic leaving-home and coming-home light scenarios run in the taillights and headlights. The staging in the headlights differs depending on the daytime running light signature set.
Maximum precision as a principle: toolmaking
The Q4 fascinates from all angles and in all parts e-tron Models with their expressive design. How complex it is to manufacture is exemplified by the side wall frame of the Sportback in its rear area. Big challenges come together here in a small area: At the top, the D-pillar runs into the flank, in the other direction the rear spoiler is attached and further down, the blister with its narrow radii and deep undercut extends over the rear light. All these curves and gradients are implemented with a flawless surface finish and the highest precision.
The toolmaking department at Audi is responsible for this - it brings the emotions into the sheet metal and the designers' ideas into the series. His method planners sit at the table in the early phase of development and check the suggestions for feasibility. In many areas, coordination and development are carried out digitally on the computer. With the Q4 e-tron and at
Q4 Sportback e-tron the toolmakers from the two German Audi locations shared the work - the specialists from Ingolstadt looked after the side wall frames, doors and roof, the Neckarsulm colleagues the front and tailgate.
Cast iron giants: 4,50 meters long, 47 tons in weight
In toolmaking, highly complex functions meet uncompromising precision and heavy metal. The pressing tools for the side wall frame are giants made of cast iron - around 4,50 meters long, 2,40 meters wide and 1,35 meters high, and weighing up to 47 tons. Tens of thousands of hours of manual work and several 100 individual parts have gone into them - from the filling and working slide, which weighs tons, to the hold-down devices and mold jaws, to the knives and punches. A set of large tools will take several months to assemble.
The finished tools are first incorporated in single-stage tryout presses and then in the large transfer press lines - most of them initially in the Audi plant in Ingolstadt - before they are transported to the Volkswagen plant in Zwickau, where the Q4 e-tron and the Q4 Sportback e-tron arise. In between there are numerous optimization loops, which often involve a few thousandths of a millimeter. Does the curvature of the sheet metal part have a tiny sink mark or an impermissible elevation? Are there barely visible thinnings or tiny wrinkles in the individual process steps? Modern optical measuring systems deliver exact protocols - but they still cannot replace the keen eye of the person, his sensitive fingertips and his feeling for the behavior of the sheet in the press.
Six strokes: series production in the press shop
When series production is running and the Zwickau press lines are forming the side wall frame under up to 1.600 tons of pressure, they need six production steps. In each, the component is processed by a specific tool; grippers pass it on to the next tool. The first pulls the sheet metal into the desired shape, the following tools create the trimmings, for example in the area of the side windows, the fine edges and lines, the assembly holes and the complicated undercuts - folds and geometries on the inside of the sheet metal, which are necessary for the later Connection in the body shop are necessary. Because the sheet always tends to spring back slightly, it is reshaped in a targeted manner in each work step. At the beginning of the forming process there is a flat blank, and at the end there is a three-dimensional component with the highest precision and emotional design.
