The role of cars is changing. Once designed to be a purely functional means of getting from A to B, they’re now expressions of design, power and lifestyle. High-performance cars like the new Audi e-tron GT all-electric four-door coupe encapsulate the new role of vehicles, with dynamic handling, emotional design and sustainability rolled into one stunning package.

“We’re seeing a shift,” says Felix Enciso, director of product planning at Audi Canada. Part of this shift is away from the visceral feelings linked to the growl of a high-performance internal combustion engine to other factors, from sustainability to avant-garde design, says Enciso. That’s the idea behind the new Audi e-tron GT and its more powerful sibling, the Audi RS e-tron GT. Both are engineering marvels filled with advanced technology, aerodynamic lines and emotion-stirring design, and neither relies on an internal combustion engine to put a smile on a driver’s face.

This difference is apparent from the first moment you lay eyes on the new Audi e-tron GT. “You can clearly tell the Audi e-tron GT is an electric vehicle,” says Marc Lichte, head of design at Audi AG. “We believe electric mobility enables us to create the most beautiful cars in the world. Our ambition is to use design to illustrate the drive system’s evolution.”

Anyone who sees the new Audi e-tron GT in person will agree that Lichte has succeeded. The Audi e-tron GT is a dynamic sculpture with a strong presence thanks to huge wheels, dramatic short overhangs and sharp edges that contrast beautifully with the sleek, athletic surfaces along its body. The Audi e-tron GT is seven centimetres lower than the Audi A7, and even though the battery is in the underbody it still offers ample interior space for four passengers, including tall adults riding in the rear seats. “Proportions are the basis for good design, and the package of the Audi e-tron GT creates those proportions. They are quite simply perfect,” says Lichte.

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The Audi e-tron GT is the first series-production vehicle to showcase Audi’s vibrant and futuristic new e-design language. Seen head-on, the optically inverted Singleframe grille, for example, declares that this is a highly advanced machine. The expressive sill design, meanwhile, emphasizes that the vehicle’s nerve centre is no longer an engine under the hood, but the batteries beneath the floor.

The Audi e-tron GT’s technology is no less emotive and exhilarating than its exterior design. Two quiet but powerful electric motors provide dynamic driving performance with the confidence and security of electric all-wheel drive. This innovative powertrain enables the Audi RS e-tron GT to produce up to 637 horsepower in boost mode and hit 0-100 km/h in only 3.3 seconds. If you wanted any proof that there’s no need to sacrifice fun with an EV, one test drive in the Audi e-tron GT ought to convince you. “You don’t give anything up,” says Enciso. “There’s power, the handling is fantastic because the battery is low, there is this emotional sound to it and the instant torque is fantastic.”

Electric mobility is the future, and the new Audi e-tron GT and Audi RS e-tron GT – sculpted, efficient, emotive and powerful – allow you to experience that future today.

https://www.audi.ca/ca/web/en/models/e-tron-gt/e-tron-gt-family.html

Advertising feature produced by Globe Content Studio with Audi. The Globe’s editorial department was not involved.