Everything leading up to this drive of the $2 million prototype for the 2012 Audi E-tron started back after the 2003 Detroit Auto Show. That's when the Audi bosses decided to go ahead with the entire R8 program, something that has since substantially altered what we had formerly come to expect from Audi headquarters in Ingolstadt.

Nowadays, every company on earth dreams of a halo car as effective as the Audi R8. In the meantime, Audi has already flung itself far into the future to milk the R8 success for all it's worth. Besides the RSQ coupe made for the movie i, Robot in 2004 and the 414-horsepower R8 with 4.2-liter FSI V8 that was introduced in 2007, we now have the righteous 518-hp R8 with 5.2-liter FSI V10 as well as even a racing GT4 version. Right in between all of these, we experimented in 2008 with the 493-hp R8 TDI Le Mans concept with its twin-turbo V12 diesel providing an insane 737 pound-feet of torque.

It's sad that the inability to build a suitably compact and cost-effective transmission for the TDI car has killed that project. But what better way to get over the loss of the oil burner than to create a transmission-free electric R8? And if you thought the TDI's 737 lb-ft of torque between 1,750 and 3,500 rpm was good, the 2012 Audi E-tron squashes that number with 3,319 lb-ft of torque at zero rpm from four electric motors. This time, however, the experiment is coming to market and Audi also promises not to wimp out and stuff a range-extending internal-combustion engine into the mix as if we were dealing with some kind of Chevy Volt.

Totally Amped
While it's tempting to label the 2012 Audi E-tron Concept as a thinly disguised second-generation R8, Audi spokesperson Josef Schlossmacher tells us, "There are about five or six more years left for the first-generation R8 and a second-generation car will likely look much different from these subtler changes on the E-tron." Less subtle changes for the E-tron include, of course, the elimination of the R8 drivetrain — engine, exhaust, transmission, all-wheel-drive system and fuel tank. "The only straight carryover to the E-tron from the R8," says E-tron technical director Thomas Kräuter, "is the suspension scheme and mounting points."

The most satisfying statement to make regarding the drive itself is that the E-tron — company code name "F09," for "Frankfurt 2009" — drives like a final pre-production prototype and not like a pasted-together show-stand darling that falls apart at the first thump. For our driving route along the California coast, the E-tron has been painted an eye-grabbing Speed Red and gleams with chrome and lots of anodized aluminum.

Achim Badstübner, the leader of exterior design at Audi, tells us, "My only regret on this driving version of the E-tron is that the 19-inch show wheels had to be swapped with the standard wheels of the R8 V10." For sheer spectacle, we also miss the ambitious, 80-spoke 19-inch alloys of the showcarsince they lend visual electricity to the electric beast. Meanwhile, this prototype's overall length and height shrinks versus the R8 V8. Overall length is reduced 6.8 inches to just 167.7 inches, while overall height decreases 0.9 inch to 48.4 inches. The wheelbase comes down just 2 inches to 102.3 inches. With width staying roughly the same at 74.8 inches, the 2012 Audi E-tron comes off as more sinister than the standard R8s, hunkered down and ready to pounce.

Electricity in the Air
Now for the living and breathing exterior. Starting in front, the grille and LED headlight executions are signs of things to come for all Audis, of course. As far as the E-tron goes, the grille intake is covered by a movable Plexiglas sheet that automatically moves inward whenever the car's sensors determine that the electric motors need cooling. When nothing is too hot, the clear cover stays forward to improve the already slippery aerodynamics.

An even better show is put on by the side and overhead cooling intakes. Again, whenever the battery's rear-mounted radiator screams for a cool breeze, the lateral intakes behind the door openings suddenly appear as the composite panels deflect elegantly inward. Above the heads of the two occupants there are multiple aluminum runners over the "engine" compartment, and they are nudged upward by an actuator to reveal a gorgeous air intake. The heat exchanger for the climate control gets chilled by new intakes beneath the headlights, while small upper intakes just aft of the passenger windows add to the cooling.