Volkswagen Group fight! Volkswagen Group fight! It’s not just Bugatti and Lamborghini revealing new, ultra-fast shards of carbonfibre exclusivity at the Pebble Beach festival of prosecco and red corduroy trousers next month. Audi is also bringing a secret supercar design study to California. Oh yes, it’s Audi vs Lambo vs Bugatti for the limelight.

Audi’s show star is the PB 18 e-tron, which it’s billing as “a design study for a puristic sportscar of the future”. All we’ve seen so far is this moody teaser shot, hinting at a low, wide, marauding supercar with cameras instead of door mirrors mounted at roof level, like an ant’s antenna.

And what Audi would be complete without a blazing pair of LED running light motifs searing themselves into your eyeballs? Check. It’ll be attempting to steal focus from the new, Nürburgring-conquering Lamborghini Aventador SVJ and Bugatti’s Divo track-special.

It’s about time Audi tied in its enormous Le Mans racing success with its road cars, and the company promises “the Audi R18 e-tron’s technology inspired the solutions for various details” of the PB 18. For several obvious reasons, this newcomer ain’t going to be a diesel, though. Audi dubs the car as producing “emotion instead of emissions” thanks to “powerful electric drive”. We’re very excited.

Laguna Seca raceway has been chosen as the PB 18’s reveal location. Reports of Lamborghini and Bugatti operatives sneaking around the track with oil and banana skins in hand are unconfirmed at this time.

STORY Ollie Kew