Audi releases PB18 E-tron teaser ahead of Laguna Seca debut

Audi has announced plans to unveil its mysterious PB18 E-tron supercar at the Laguna Seca race track, after whetting fans appetites with a shadowy preview image.

The all-electric creation will be revealed on 23 August at the Pebble Beach Car Week in California.

Little can be seen in the newly released teaser image, but according to Autocar, the supercar’s design is inspired by the company’s R18 TDI Le Mans car and features a pair of small cameras above the cockpit that provide a real-time video feed of the rear view.

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The car also gets “signature LED headlights”, the magazine says, along with curvy wheel arches and a large Audi bonnet logo that hark back to the 1991 Audi Avus concept.

The PB18 E-tron’s sporty form is intended to make EVs “more appealing”, as carmakers continue to push towards more environmentally friendly vehicles, Evo reports.

However, Auto Express says that the concept “will be purely a design study and not a preview of a forthcoming all-electric supercar”.

Instead, Audi’s debut into the electric car market will come in the form of its Tesla Model X-rivalling E-tron SUV, to be revealed in production form on 17 September in San Francisco, the motoring mag adds.

Audi had hoped to unveil its electric SUV in August, but the unveiling was postponed following the arrest of the company’s chief executive Rupert Stadler over his involvement in the 2015’s emissions scandal.