German Car Forum

This makes me mad.
Do you see the pattern...



..............





and these too in a way

...............and why has Audi copied RR.

Are you kiddin' me??

Audi's single frame grille goes WAY back before RR





This is where the idea to bring back the single frame grille, came from!

This comment seems ridiculous. The Renault in no way "copies" Audi especially. Audi is not the only one to use a large single frame grill and that Dodge (not the 300) might even be older than Audi's recent inspiration to develop this brand look.

I bet you can't beat this Ford Model-T.

You must be joking right?

I don't agree with Audiholic. Apart from Rover 75 and Exelero the others don't look similar.

Also you forgot this one:



Fiat Sedici.

Everybody? Hardly Audiholic.

Rover is dead because it was just plain the most useless car company of our times, so any form of imitation can't be deemed as flattery.
The Americans had big grills waaay before Audi.
The Exelero is just a concept and hardly similar in its execution as opposed to basic form.

The worst offender for the uni-grill proliferation is in fact Audi's parent company VWAG. So there's no way a rival manufacturer could ever be accused of copying Audi to such an extent.

So, no, "everybody"? I don't agree. It was clear as day that Audi were on that uni-grill path for ages and no-one really cared to react to it.

Well I'm as serious as Audiholic.

BTW those lights on the FIAT look a lot like 3 series lights or is it just the angle of the photo?

Of course I didn't mean everybody, but it seems to me like the "big grille" is some kind of fashion now, that Audi started with the A8 W12. You gotta agree on that a bit dont you?

What Renault are you talking about?

I meant of course the big grille thing.

Audi didnt copyright the single frame so of course it will be used.

Fashion, otherwise referred to as modern design trends is part and parcel of modern automobile form and function. Someone innovates / stretches new boundaries and others imitate or adapt. Case in point would be clamshell-style boot-lids.

I don't see Audi's large shield or uni-grill as being a paragon of automotive fashion just yet. It's still very unique from a mainstream point of view - except, of course, for frikken VW.

Have you seen a uni-grill on say a BMW, Mercedes Benz or other mainstream Audi competitor?

Well yes, but why copy it? Why not make your own ideas?

Off topic, but am I the only one seing a pattern here to:

So true about VW. And god no, I haven't seen that. And hope I won't either.
But look at that Rover. What where they thinking!?

Desparate times call for desparate measures. Poor bastards.

I'm sorry, but there is NO resemblence between the 3 series and the Audi's. In fact, if there is one brand that has been copied a lot the last few years, it's BMW.
Yes, the Rover did just copy it, but that's about the only car. You have to accept some simularities between VW and Audi, they are the same family.

AND the Stupidest Thread Ever Award goes too...This one

Ehhhh... And who has compared them?

or are you comparing the VW with the 3 series?? This is confusing, can't this thread just be closed? It's not really giving something extra to the forum.

* As you can see from the pictures, and the post, I said "off topic" and posted a pic of 3-series and the VW Polo, which both of them have a resemblence in their grille.

And this thread is about the big grilles, so please stop wining. If you are not interested, then don't comment.

To prevent misunderstanding, this reply is not to bash you, Audiholic.
Just giving my opinion because honestly you're a bit overreacting.

I must say that some of these pictures you posted concerning the 'copycats' of the Audi singleframe grille are a bit too far fetched.
Like the Peugeot 407 for instance...... how can this car be a single frame similiar to the Audi's.
If you really think that car has similiarities, then even the Jaguar XJR and the E-type would be similiar to the Audi's singleframe....

You're talking as if Audi always had that frame on their cars.
That Audi used the single frame grille on their historical grand prix cars that you show in the pictures don't justify that Audi came first with the single frame grille.
It also doesn't mean that they invented it and that it's a typical Audi characteristic.

This Auto Union Type-D (That's what Audi was called back then) is from 1937.


Honestly, don't all grand prix cars have that kind of grille like that back in those days?
Like this Mercedes grand prix car. This car is from 1934 by the way.


Or the Bugatti and the car next the Bugatti. Which is even more older.


Or that kind of singleframe grille on the production roadcars back in the good ol' days?




Point is, Audi wasn't first with singleframe grille as you've been trying to tell us. And it's not typical Audi grille since a few years.

If you look and think a bit further, it's actually Audi who is copying other brands like Rolls Royce, Mercedes, BMW.
Let me explain why. Where for example premium brands like Rolls Royce, Mercedes and BMW all had, is exactly what Audi actually lacked.

- Rolls Royce, the grille, typical RR. Always has been in the family, a familiy trademark.
- Mercedes, the grille, typical Mercedes and also a family trademark.
- BMW, the 2 seperate grills like noseholes, typical BMW, family trademark.

Audi.......a normal general grille. Nothing special, heck if it was badged as a VW you still wouldn't think that it was an Audi.
On the Rolls Royce, Mercedes, BMW on the other hand. It recognizable.
The grill is an essential unique characteristic of the brand, a trademark.
And that's what Audi lacked and now they finally have their own singleframe which should be now a typical family trademark of Audi now and in the future.

Singleframe grille is still used as characteristic family trademark on cars today like the Rolls Royce but also Morgan and Wiesermann and that's waaaaaaaay before Audi did.



So who's copying who, huh.

And yes, I do agree that Rover had copied Audi singleframe.....but that's about it for me at least.
And that some brands copy Audi is a compliment.

well i think the case is closed

I understand you topic and I respect your opinion.

The thing is that I udnerstood that the subjest of this topic was "wrong", so I edited the title to "why are so many using the big-grille theme like Audi nowadays".
But unfortunately, even as a moderator I couldn't change it.

Anyways, thanx for a little of the history.
I remember that 3 years ago when Audi announced that they are going to go back in history and try to give al ltheir models the single-frame grille. So those pictures I posted was to proove what I have heard.

Anyways, you still gotta agree that the big grilles are more common now, then they were 3 years ago, before Audi started the "fashion".

Alwing's post is something I only wish I could have written. I was thinking of the same but was struggling to put it in words, but he nailed it. I don't really agree that Audi started the whole thing with shield grill. As Alwing said, there have been many more cars that actually used the grill as their main feature in the front of the car (the examples he gave were good).

I don't think that Audi started the "fashion" at all as you say. If anything, I believe it was the new Phantom. Although the grill has been with RR for a while, BMW's interpretation of the future RRs started everything because it's a mix of history with future design.