Audi on brink of design and tech revolution

 

              Starting in 2017, the next-generation A8, A7, A6 and Range Rover Sport-rivalling Q8 – the first all-new models to be overseen from start to finish by design director Marc Lichte, who joined in 2014 - will all arrive in quick succession (and in that order). Together they will usher in a new era of more adventurous exterior design sleek button-less interiors and autonomous capability, or ‘Artificial Intelligence’ as Audi plans on branding it.

The A8 will also blow raspberries in the Tesla’s general direction with a “level 3 piloted system,” an autonomous function to you and I, that can take total control of the car up to 60mph, with the potential for over-the-air upgrades in future should legislation let driverless speeds increase. A parking pilot function will let you step out of the car and parallel park it, or back it into your garage, remotely via your iPhone, while a smart phone app will let you ditch your car key altogether.

Where Lichte will really lay down his design marker, though, is in late 2017, with the all-new A7. The idea this time around is to create greater differentiation between the A6 and the four-door coupe A7, but make both a lot more dramatic to behold than the current cars. Both the A7 and A6 (and A6 Avant, complete with an even bigger boot) will all be on sale in the UK by mid-2018, and sport a longer wheelbase, plus wider and lower proportions with bigger wheels – up to 20-inchers.

The A7 gets a full-width taillight bar to denote it’s the flagship model in that particular pillar of the Audi range. The A7 also distinguishes itself from the A6 with a flatter, wider grille, a similar plunging roofline to the current car and a second feature line below the traditional shoulder crease that Lichte calls the “equator” line. The new Q8 – a lower, wider, more luxurious five-seater cousin to the Q7, that will sit atop Audi’s burgeoning SUV line up when it goes on sale in late 2018.

The Q8 shouldn’t be confused with Audi’s forthcoming pure electric SUV – a model previewed by the e-tron quattro concept and already confirmed for production sometime in 2018. The car is expected to have a minimum 300-mile range and slot in the space where you’d imagine a Q6 to sit, although it’s expected to wear an e-tron badge rather than being called the Q6. Got all that?

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