Automotive 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 prime, 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 choose your means by means of the messaging—key phrases listed here are precision and readability, in addition to a reemphasis on our previous good friend “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 partaking fight mode in an trade presently beset with challenges.
“Our imaginative and prescient is a name to motion for the entire firm—and is crucial for making our model really distinctive as soon as once more,” Audi chief artistic officer Massimo Frascella explains. “It’s the philosophy behind each determination we make, and we goal to use its rules throughout all the group. We name it ‘the Radical Subsequent.’”
Let’s begin with the automobile itself. Though the e-tron GT set the bar excessive, Audi’s mannequin vary has been gentle on coherence and drama. The Idea C isn’t fairly a first-principles machine, nevertheless it undoubtedly strips issues again and seeks to stoke some good old style flames of want. 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 automobile; Frascella used it to push the boundaries when it comes to design creativity and manufacturing approach.
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 automobile, 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 Range Rover, a universally admired automobile (although he additionally labored on the fairly extra polarizing Jaguar Type 00.) A scarcity of decoration and dedication to what automobile 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 an enormous billet of aluminum, and there’s a robust new vertical front-grille form with a slim however highly effective gentle signature that echoes the four-ring brand. 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 automobile is slated to reach in 2027.
Courtesy of Audi
