Renault unveils cheaper all-electric crossover

French automaker Renault has unveiled a new and cheaper all-electric crossover, the Renault K-ZE, as well as three autonomous electric vehicle concepts. Renault has been depending heavily on the cheaper model to combat with Tesla’s (TSLA) Model X around the globe.

The company is building a cheaper electric car for a price tag much lower than the $79,500 Model X starting rate. Despite the unavailability of pricing details, Renault is expected to give more information ahead of the vehicle release, which is likely to be in mid-2019.

However, Renault has planned to launch the cheaper vehicle first in China next year and Europe will get the vehicle in 2020. The company claimed a 250 kilometer or 155 miles driving range for the vehicle. Automotive experts believe that the vehicle could have a range of close to 190 km or 118 miles.

In addition, the company launched three new autonomous vehicles concept dubbed by Renault as robo-vehicle. Those include EZ-Ultimo for businesses to offer the premium mobility service, EZ-PRO for the last mile delivery, and EZ-Go for shared urban commuting. Renault is bringing out these vehicles to satisfy people who use ride-hailing services.

This news comes in the midst of Tesla producing 80,142 vehicles in the third quarter, which is 50% more than the second quarter. The company has delivered 83,500 vehicles in Q3 out of which 13,190 vehicles were Model X. The electric car maker produced 26,903 Model S and X vehicles in the recently ended quarter.

Meanwhile, Audi has launched the production version of the most-expected all-electric E-Tron Quattro SUV. Audi has given a price tag of $86,700 before incentives for a special Edition One that could hit the shelves of the stores in the second quarter of 2019. This could be followed by a base variant of the battery-powered crossover with a price tag of $74,800.

2020 will be a crucial year for the electric vehicles market as most of the key players are launching their SUV weapons into the market at that time. These include Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volvo Polestar 2 sedan, Jaguar I-Pace, and General Motors’ (GM) Chevrolet Bolt 2. Apart from this, Model X from the key player Tesla is likely to create buzz at least for the next two years.