Automobile firms love a mission assertion. With the arrival of the Idea C, Audi’s new one is crystal clear: “radical simplicity.” An all-electric two-seater with a retractable folding onerous high, the Idea C is a “progressive interpretation” of the corporate’s legacy, says Audi—and it is not onerous to see that the TT has factored fairly closely in that.
However as you decide your means by means of the messaging—key phrases listed below are precision and readability, in addition to a reemphasis on our previous pal “Vorsprung durch Technik”—this looks like a considerable reset after a interval of aesthetic drift. This isn’t only a piece of conceptual eye sweet, then: It’s Audi participating fight mode in an trade at present beset with challenges.
“Our imaginative and prescient is a name to motion for the entire firm—and is important for making our model really distinctive as soon as once more,” Audi chief inventive officer Massimo Frascella explains. “It’s the philosophy behind each resolution we make, and we goal to use its rules throughout the complete group. We name it ‘the Radical Subsequent.’”
Let’s begin with the automotive itself. Though the e-tron GT set the bar excessive, Audi’s mannequin vary has been mild on coherence and drama. The Idea C isn’t fairly a first-principles machine, nevertheless it positively strips issues again and seeks to stoke some good old school flames of need. It’s a terrific trying factor within the flesh: stocky, strong, and charismatic. Audi CEO Gernot Döllner, in cost for precisely two years, personally pushed for a brand new sports activities automotive; Frascella used it to push the boundaries when it comes to design creativity and manufacturing method.
Courtesy of Audi
It’s additionally one for marque historians: Though there’s nothing explicitly retro right here, the Thirties Auto Union Sort C Grand Prix automotive, the early-noughties Rosemeyer idea, and extra pertinently the unique TT are all within the combine, as is Bauhaus and German modernism.
Frascella, it needs to be famous, is an Italian who rose to prominence as head of design at Jaguar Land Rover, and he’s credited with the present Vary Rover, a universally admired automobile (although he additionally labored on the somewhat extra polarizing Jaguar Sort 00.) A scarcity of decoration and dedication to what automotive designers are wont to name “monolithic” surfaces are evidently two of his logos.
That a lot is definitely obvious right here. The Idea C’s taut, machined look suggests one thing carved from a large billet of aluminum, and there’s a robust new vertical front-grille form with a slim however highly effective mild signature that echoes the four-ring emblem. We reckon it’s greatest appreciated from an elevated place above the rear three-quarters, although. There’s no rear window, minimal ornament, and slender LED taillights, with three slats within the rear deck to recommend a extra emotionally charged, mid-engined configuration. We’re informed the windowless, slatted look will make manufacturing, and the brand new automotive is slated to reach in 2027.
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