First it was Jaguar. We named their electric concept The Pig, and we stand by that. A brand that gave the world the E-Type and the XJ-S apparently looked at its heritage and decided the correct response was a concept that looked like something inflated in questionable colours, communicating nothing about performance, nothing about elegance and nothing about why anyone would want to be seen in one.
Then came the Ferrari Luce. We covered it extensively when it broke last week. An electric car with four doors and five seats, 1,035 horsepower, designed by the man who built the iPhone. The engineering is extraordinary. The price is over €500,000. The exterior looks like a Tesla that has been to finishing school. Luca di Montezemolo, who ran Ferrari for 23 years, said not even the Chinese would copy it. He was not wrong.
And now this.
Audi unveiled the Nuvolari on 4 June and the name alone tells you what it was supposed to be. Tazio Nuvolari was one of the greatest racing drivers who ever lived, a man Ferdinand Porsche called "the greatest driver of the past, the present and the future." He drove for Auto Union in the 1930s with a ferocity that bordered on the supernatural. Naming a car after him sets an expectation.
The specification is genuinely extraordinary. A Lamborghini V8 of 4.0 litres with twin turbos, revving to 10,000rpm and producing 789 horsepower from the combustion engine alone, combined with three electric motors for a total system output of 987 horsepower. Limited to 499 examples. A top speed in excess of 350km/h. Active aerodynamics derived from Audi's Formula 1 programme. A Vertical Frame at the rear composed of 64 individually angled tiles that channel air through a concealed S-duct. The engineering team went from blank sheet to a prototype ready for production in 14 months, which is a remarkable achievement by any measure.
Now look at the rear end.
Like this? Get the app: iOS | Android
The back of the Nuvolari is a jumble. The rear window has been deleted in favour of air intakes mounted at the sides, which is an aerodynamic decision with legitimate engineering rationale. What sits in its place is a collection of vents, slots, tiles and light elements that looks like a design committee was given 64 separate briefs simultaneously and told to fit them all into the same panel. Audi calls their new philosophy "The Radical Next." From the rear of this car, it looks like the radical next step was to put everything in at once and see what survived.
The front is better. The four horizontally arranged lighting elements are distinctive and the nose has genuine presence. But presence and coherence are different things, and around the back they part company.
None of this is irrelevant because the car is fast. Speed and beauty are not mutually exclusive and have historically coexisted very well in this segment. The Audi R8, which the Nuvolari effectively succeeds, was a genuinely attractive car. The Lamborghini Huracan, which shares mechanical roots with this vehicle's powertrain, does not make you look away. The Nuvolari does something unfortunate to the eye on the exit, which is exactly the view you will see most often in your mirrors.
We are three for three. The Pig. The Luce. The Nuvolari.
Someone at these companies needs to walk into the design studio and ask the question that someone should have asked earlier. Not "is it fast" or "is it powerful" or "does it tell a story about our design philosophy." Just: does it look good?
Because right now, across three of the most celebrated names in the automotive world, the answer is no.
Sources
- Audi MediaCenter — Audi presents its first supercar with a high-performance hybrid powertrain
- Audi.com — Nuvolari: Super sports car with 1,001 PS
- Audi USA — Introducing the Audi Nuvolari
- BMWBlog — Audi Is Making Another Supercar Before BMW. Meet The Nuvolari
- CarBuzz — Audi's New Supercar Is The Most Powerful Audi Ever, And It Has An Engine You'll Love
- Wikipedia — Audi Nuvolari
