Audi has some kind of not-so-secret EV project in the works called Artemis. It’s a bid to catch up to Tesla, though Audi is years behind. Artemis doesn’t seem to be a specific vehicle, exactly, but an entire project. Still, according to various reports a so-called Landjet for Audi, Porsche and Bentley is in the works.
The Landjet — a codename that is mainly marketing — will be a three-row electric car, which is the type of vehicle we all picture in our heads when we hear the word Landjet. The Landjet — yes, capital L, apparently — will be manufactured in Hanover, Germany, according to Automotive News, itself citing a report in the German publication Handelsblatt.
From Automotive News:
The Landjet is expected to offer a range of 650 km. Audi’s version would launch in 2024 and versions for Porsche and Bentley would come later. Control of Bentley is being transferred to Audi from Porsche, company sources last month told Automobilwoche, a sister publication of Automotive News Europe.
It is not clear if the production Landjet will be a sedan or a utility vehicle, or a mix of both.
VW Group said on Friday that it will produce three full-electric “D-SUV models” for other group brands at the Hanover plant. VW’s press release did not mention the brands that will get the models.
Handelsblatt said the production Landjet will be a sedan that will be a rival to the next-generation Tesla Model S.
The Tesla Model S debuted in June 2012, so if VW sticks to its production target, the Landjet will have arrived more than a decade later. I’m already getting ready for a revisionist history around then, a PR campaign in which all the legacy automakers pretend Tesla hasn’t existed for years and that, yes, they were the ones who really made electric cars happen. At the end of this timeline is when I finally become an Elon Musk stan.