Audi's 2019 e-tron shows off high-tech cabin

Audi has continued teasing its highly-touted e-tron despite reportedly cancelling its official unveil, this time giving us a glimpse of its pure-electric SUV's state-of-the-art cabin.

Releasing images overnight, the German car-maker reveals how its e-tron's pioneering 'virtual' exterior mirrors will work in the real world.

Replacing traditional door mirrors with cameras, the pics show how a live broadcast of the road behind will be projected on neat screens that live where the doors meet the dashboard.

Those screens are actually 7.0-inch OLED displays that provide a widescreen view. The cameras are no gimmick, say Audi, but rather part of a clever aerodynamic package which also incorporates air suspension that lowers at speed to reduce drag.

Combined, the e-tron is said to boast a drag co-efficient of 0.28. To put it in perspective,  that is around the same as the new Nissan LEAF and around 0.02 better than the baby Q2, despite being a bigger car.

With less drag, there's more range - almost 34km more than it did without the clever air-bending, according to Audi.

In total, Audi claims the e-tron will cover 399km on the new tougher WLTP test cycles that's designed to produce more realistic figures.

As well as the clever mirror, the battery-powered Tesla-rival also comes with a further three large customisable screens, each designated for air con, infotainment and the firm's usual 12.3-inch virtual cockpit display respectively.

Audiophiles will rejoice that the e-tron will come with a new 16-speaker 705-watt Bang & Olufsen sound system specially developed for the zero-emission Audi.

Other information already revealed by Audi is the e-tron gets dual motors that provide for all-wheel drive.

Powering the large pure-electric SUV will be an energy-dense 95kWh lithium-ion battery that can withstand 150kWh DC fast-charging — 30kWh more than a Tesla using its Supercharger network.

As well as the fast DC charger, the e-tron will also get an 11kW on-board AC charger with the option of a 22kW charger. Both can recover energy on the move.

Audi has confirmed the e-tron can be fully charged in 8.5 hours when connected to a 300-volt three-phase outlet but the German car-maker has yet to disclose how long the e-tron’s batteries take to charge using a conventional household socket.

It’s also still unknown how powerful (or quick) the e-tron will be, although performance variants are expected to arrive following its launch.

Originally planned for a Belgium reveal on August 30, the e-tron will now be unveiled to the world at a later date at an event in the US.

Despite its unveiling being delayed, Audi is adamant that the e-tron's on-sale dates remain on schedule with it expected to go on sale in Australia in early 2019 priced from around $170,000.