Audi has confirmed with GoAuto in Australia that the 2028 release of its A4 E-Tron model as a direct competitor with the BMW i3 and Mercedes-Benz C-Class Electric is on target. While the end result will look simple, Audi is merging Volkswagen Group’s new SSP platform, next-generation zonal electronic architecture, and debuting Audi’s ‘Radical Next’ design language on a production car. But what does this mean for Audi’s future? Actually, it’s rather significant.
On top of this, Audi is using its new “project house” development method that created the upcoming and insane hybrid Audi Nuvolari supercar. All this is for a mainstream electric car, so let’s unpack why the Nuvolari is so important here.
Audi Concept C Audi
Solving A Big Problem
The project house development is going to be a different approach to designing vehicles that addresses a problem the three main German luxury carmakers are struggling with. The issue is that they are trying to make each model a global car, when the globe has many different localized needs and tastes. The shorthand example of that is how BMW and Mercedes are sticking big illuminated grilles on their otherwise sophisticatedly styled cars and losing a lot of respect for it.
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Audi’s answer is that its European cars will be sold under the ‘four rings’ Audi brand in specific markets, then models developed with its partner, SAIC, will cater to Chinese-market expectations under the AUDI brand. To create more localized models quickly, that means building on platforms with the relevant people close together, close to the product, and being able to make quicker decisions about products with a clear focus on the relevant market.
“We were fast like never before,” said Audi chief technical officer Rouven Mohr, referring to the Nuvolari. “And now, at the moment, we are working in a similar approach also on the A4 E-Tron.”
Audi Nuvolari hero shotAudi
Trickle Down Development
The first result of that approach is the Audi Nuvolari, which will have a 499-unit run and be sold in Europe and the US. As CarBuzz journalist Evan Williams said, that car “rekindles the Audi/Lamborghini connection that was forged with the R8 – a car that, while sharing Lambo bones, still retained an Audi personality.”
!!!MODEL TAG!!! Listing Carousel 2022 Audi A4 Sedan
https://carbuzz.com/cars/audi/a4-sedan/2022/
The second result will be something much different – a high-volume all-electric take on the A4, which is a staple of the Audi lineup. The new A4 will also use Audi’s new Radical Next design language, which was debuted through the Audi Concept C. Audi describes the new design language with the words clear, technical, emotional, and intelligent.
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The language is clear when you look at the concept – Audi is looking to simplify its design and lean into the German design school of geometric-based minimalism. Something that, assuming it’s executed with the emotion Audi talks about, will go down well in Europe and, by extension, the US.
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters:
2023 BMW 7 Series frontBMW
We have already broken down what we know about the new A4, but the fact Audi is using the localized form of development using existing platforms could put Audi at a big advantage over BMW and Mercedes. When asked if big grilles have become too radical, BMW Group Design Director Adrian van Hooydonk said the quiet part out loud: “No, because it depends on where you are in the world. In certain areas in the world, like China, it is good; people are still asking for big grilles. So this is sort of the tricky situation that you’re in as a global brand.”
BMW and Mercedes have been trying to mesh their sophisticated European luxury style with overt luxury signaling and have taken no end of criticism for it. If Audi pulls off its project house development program with consistency, it won’t have to solve the problem Mercedes and BMW have been struggling with for a decade now as they try to increase sales in large parts of the world with different cultures.
Source: GoAuto Australia
