► Audi unveils new Concept C show car
► A North Star for Audi’s future design direction
► Led by chief creative officer, Massimo Frascella
Talk about complete design reinvention! This is the Audi Concept C, a bold and monolithic vision that shows how Audi aims to completely shake up the way it designs its cars. Better yet, Audi confirms the Concept C isn’t just some dust gatherer for a show hall – it previews a future production model.
The Concept C is a two-door, battery-electric sports car with a retractable hard top that’s designed to show the brand ‘taking a bold step towards a reduced and timeless aesthetic.’ It’s 4520mm long, 1970mm wide and 1285mm tall – making it slightly larger in all directions than an R8. The concept will also ‘mark the beginning of a new design philosophy, and thus a defining moment for the Four Rings.’ In other words, it’s a North Star for how future Audi models will look.
The whole project has been led by Audi’s chief creative officer, Massimo Frascella – a man who’s only a year into the job heading up Audi design – who describes the Concept C as ‘a call to action for the whole company.
‘It’s essential to making our brand truly distinctive once again,’ he adds. ‘It’s the philosophy behind every decision we make, and we aim to apply its principles across the entire organisation.’
Audi says the concept ‘embodies radical simplicity and technical precision,’ and includes design details that it hopes to feature in future cars – stepping away from the over-creased and overwrought designs of the last decade. The biggest nod is to the Auto Union Type C; it’s where the concept gets its name, but also its upright grille arrangement. Frascella describes merging two of Audi’s most famous grilles, the one used in the Type C and the Singleframe that’s defined Audi design for decades into one ‘Vertical Frame.’
As well as the Type C, other design details have been inspired by cars like the original TT coupe as well as the third-generation A6, interestingly. The wheels are also heavily inspired by the Avus concept of the early 1990s. The concept features plenty of clean surfaces and impactful design details, and includes a retractable hard-top.
Inside, Audi point to the implementation of ‘shy tech’ – the philosophy that technology should be present, but not always visible. The central display, for example, can fold away, while physical controls for certain functions are fluidly incorporated into the car’s dashboard design.
The other theme of the interior is the deliberate use of very tactile materials. Anodised aluminium is used for details like the extremely chunky door handles, for example.
CAR’s intel suggests that the forthcoming production model that will be span out of Concept C will be the brand’s sole sports car, bundling the TT and R8 into one distinctive model.
That production model will likely run on the same architecture as the electric Porsche 718 twins, especially given CAR’s sources have previously confirmed that boss Gernot Döllner was given reportedly given approval to use Porsche’s architecture for a sports car project of its own. If that’s the case, the production model that will follow in a couple of years could likely produce north of 600bhp.
‘The way we design our vehicles is the way we will shape our company,’ says Audi CEO Gernot Döllner. He adds that the new design philosophy will be ‘reflected in the design of the model portfolio, as well as in the organisational structure of the company. Clarity is an ethos and the compass that will guide Audi through the times ahead.’
Jake has been an automotive journalist since 2015, joining CAR as Staff Writer in 2017. With a decade of car news and reviews writing under his belt, he became CAR's Deputy News Editor in 2020 and then News Editor in 2025. Jake's day-to-day role includes co-ordinating CAR's news content across its print, digital and social media channels. When he's not out interviewing an executive, driving a new car for review or on a photoshoot for a CAR feature, he's usually found geeking out on the latest video game, buying yet another pair of wildly-coloured trainers or figuring out where he can put another car-shaped Lego set in his already-full house.
By Jake Groves
CAR's news editor; gamer, trainer freak and serial Lego-ist