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The Audi E-tron GT has gained a new entry-level variant, priced from the equivalent of £91,500, offering 577bhp and a range of up to 387 miles. 

Named the E-tron GT Quattro, it completes the line-up of variants of the electric grand tourer, which was overhauled last year.

Its 97kWh (usable capacity) battery can be recharged at up to 320kW, completing a 10-80% refill in 18 minutes on a suitably powerful connection.

Audi claims this allows drivers to top up the equivalent of 177 miles of electricity in 10 minutes.

The Quattro’s dual-motor powertrain puts out 496bhp in standard operation, but enabling the launch control function temporarily unleashes the full 577bhp, allowing it to complete the 0-62mph sprint in 4.0sec.

Visually, the Quattro is distinguished from the S and RS models by the black finish applied to its Singleframe-style air intakes. These are finished in the main body colour on the other variants.

Inside, it gets black leather bucket seats with eight-way adjustment and a panoramic glass roof.

The Quattro is priced from €108,900 in Germany, making it €17,100 cheaper than the S.

Audi has yet to confirm pricing for the UK, but this points to it starting at around £95,000, compared with £108,720 for the S.

The first examples are expected to arrive in showrooms this summer.

British electric motor maker Yasa expects it will almost double its annual production volumes by 2026, as several major brands launch new performance cars exploiting its technology.

It said it expects annual production volumes to rise from just under 15,000 currently to around 25,000 in 2026, as its unique motor design underpins an increasing number of new cars from the likes of Lamborghini and Mercedes-AMG.

It employs a proprietary axial flux design, dubbed the Yokeless and Segmented Armature (Yasa), that is claimed to be four times more power-dense than the radial flux motors common in today’s mainstream electric and hybrid cars.

In simple terms, it provides a boost of around 150bhp or more in a package not much larger or heavier than a stack of three or four dinnerplates.

Its motors have already been used in the Ferrars SF90, Ferrari 296 GTB and Lamborghini Revuelto.

However, it is the upcoming Lamborghini Temerario that is expected to comprise the bulk of the brand’s uptick in output, given that it uses three Yasa motors and will be produced in large numbers.

For reference, Lamborghini built more than 20,000 examples of the Temerario’s predecessor, the Hurácan, over its decade-long lifespan.

As previously reported by Autocar, Yasa motors will also feature in the new super-saloon that Mercedes-AMG will unveil next month. It will be the first model based on the performance brand’s AMG.EA electric car platform.

Autocar understands it will employ as many as three motors of a new design, each producing 473bhp in a unit weighing 24kg and occupying just five litres of space – roughly half the size and weight of a Tesla Model 3’s 241bhp radial flux motor.

The same motor will also be deployed in the AMG variant of the new Mercedes-Benz CLA saloon due next year as well as a Porsche Cayenne Electric rival due in 2027.

Senior staff at Yasa remain coy, however, about whether the AMG motors will be assembled solely in Oxfordshire or whether Mercedes will establish its own production line in continental Europe.

Nonetheless, the rise in annual output has required an overhaul of the company’s factory, setting up two production lines dedicated to supplying motors according to the needs of Ferrari and Lamborghini.

Discussing Yasa’s rise from a University of Oxford PhD project to a supplier to some of the world’s most prominent supercar manufacturers, founder and technology chief Tim Woolmer told Autocar: “Ferrari said to us: ‘We cannot find a supplier on the planet that can fit a motor in the space [65mm] we have, because the engine crank is very low’.

“They physically couldn't get the performance they wanted from any other product on the planet. That's a nice piece of business, if you're told that, because it means that you're almost designed into their vehicle for life.”

Commercial director Andy North added: “Last year, something like 75% of Ferraris that came out of Maranello had a Yasa motor."

Yasa executives suggested that the company has a similar arrangement with Lamborghini, with its motors being integral to the design of the Revuelto and Temerario. 

Woolmer suggested that Yasa’s ultimate ambition is to become a byword for performance in the same vein as firms such as Brembo. He said: “They are the go-to people for high-performance brakes. There are a few brands like that in automotive, and we want Yasa’s brand to be synonymous with that, but equally with having the volume in the manufacturing to back it up.”

Yasa developing radical new in-wheel motor

In-wheel motors have become a focal point of EV development over the past two years, as new materials, designs and production techniques have mitigated concerns around the effects of adding unsprung weight.

Among the most prominent manufacturers of in-wheel motors is Surrey-based Protean.

But Woolmer revealed to Autocar that Yasa is also angling for a slice of the market, saying: “Probably in 12 to 14 months, we will be showing off our technology for the first time, and it will blow your socks off."

He added that EVs are currently “in the 1930s”, comparing the benefits brought by in-wheel motors to the development of disc brakes by Dunlop and Jaguar in the early 1950s.

“I would guess in a significant period of time from now – 20, 30 or 40 years – that every electric car will have in-wheel motors. That would be my guess. But it will be a fairly bumpy road and very challenging to get there.”