Audi design is unmistakable. Form and function blend to create a dazzling whole, imparting to the vehicles with the four rings their very special character. Audi design has continuously evolved over the decades, adheres to a clear code of forms, and instills in the brand its one-of-a-kind identity.
The beauty of technology
Audi design has always ambitiously sought to express the claim to technological leadership made by its Vorsprung durch Technik slogan. Six models in Audi history have been particularly successful in achieving this, and in the process became brand icons of their eras: the Auto Union Type D racing car from 1938, the NSU Ro 80 (1967), the Audi quattro (1980), the quattro Spyder and Avus quattro concept cars which both appeared in 1991, and the A2 from 1999.
Nowadays, Audi clothes its technical superiority in sporty elegance. The design language complies with strictly defined guidelines. They govern pivotal elements such as the single-frame grille, the sweeping curve of the roof, and the design of the taillights. This code of forms ensures that every Audi model illustrates the brand’s strong identity.
The necessary creative restlessness in Audi designs is taken care of by a small team of young specialists. They work at Audi’s small Concept Design Studio in Munich. This forward-looking studio in the trendy Schwabing neighborhood is a haven for open communication and unconventional ideas. Its staff injects the brand with the inspiration which will allow Audi to continue consolidating its technological superiority – today, tomorrow and beyond.
Audi’s design icons - The harmony of form and function
At Audi, automotive design is never an end in itself; instead, it always meets the challenge of expressing the Vorsprung durch Technik which is inherent to the brand with the four rings. This philosophy allows Audi continuity which already stretches back seven decades.
“Audi design is distinctive – it is the harmony of form and function,” says Stefan Sielaff, Head of Design at AUDI AG. “Above all, it is the proportions, the sculptures of our automobiles which portray the interplay of technology and design. This philosophy has a remarkable past – it is the key facet in Audi’s history.”
Sielaff demonstrates this continuity by means of six vehicles spanning the company’s history. The Auto Union Type D racing car from 1938, the NSU Ro 80 (1967), the Audi quattro (1980), the quattro Spyder and Avus quattro concept cars which appeared in 1991, and the A2 from 1999 all constitute milestones of technology and design. Each of these cars unmistakably expresses its concept via its architecture, thus symbolizing the heart of the Audi brand: Vorsprung durch Technik.
The Auto Union Type D racing car from 1938
Only very rarely has sheer functionality radiated such pure fascination as did the Grand Prix racing cars of the 1930s, the legendary “Silver Arrows.” The Type D, raced by Auto Union in the 1938 and 1939 seasons, was the pinnacle of a spectacular design legacy.
As regards technical fundamentals, all Auto Union racing cars blazed new trails in their era: As in today’s Formula One vehicles, the driver sat up front with the engine installed longitudinally behind him. This mid-engine concept – the Type D had a three-liter V12 which delivered some 370 kW (around 500 hp) in its final configuration – resulted in a truly innovative styling.
The side view of the Type D – a purely in-house project at Auto Union – was dominated by the domelike design, at the highest point of which sat the driver. With its formal uniformity, this last Grand Prix racing car from Germany’s Saxony glimpsed very far into the future. Its long and high tail end terminated in two horizontal lips, which served to stabilize the flow of air in accordance with the state of aerodynamic science at that time.
“The Type D conveys the emotion of an unbridled racing car,” says Stefan Sielaff, Head of Design at AUDI AG. “Today we would say that it had a cab-forward design: The driver sits toward the front; power propels him from behind. You get this same feeling in today’s TT – even though its engine is situated at the front. Its roof line was drawn such that its highest point is above the driver, as well.”
Full article: fourtitude
