Audi Concept Cars

Audi E-Tron Concept Car (2010)

Audi showed its second E-Tron concept car at the 2010 North American International Auto show, suggesting that the E-Tron name may be used as a moniker for all its fully electric cars in the future.

This second E-Tron concept car was still a sports car, but based on an all new shorter platform rather on the existing and expensive R8 chassis, suggesting that a smaller Audi production car may be built, possibly called the R4 and may be built on the same platform as the Volkswagen Bluesport concept shown a couple of year earlier and said to be in development.

The concept featured some heavily contoured styling with crisp edges not seen much on Audi products before, which may herald the start of a new design direction for the brand.

Audi E-Tron Concept 2010 Front

Audi E-Tron Concept 2010 Side

Audi E-Tron Concept 2010 Rear

Audi E-Tron Concept 2010 Interior

Audi E-Tron Concept Car (2009)

Audi showed the first of its E-tron concepts at the 2009 IAA Auto Show, designed as the first Audi high performance sports car with a purely electric drive system. It was designed to steal some of the thunder form Mercedes announcement that they would be building an all electric versions of its SLS supercar.

Audi took the basis of the R8 and shortened and modified it to produce the E-Tron, changing lights and bumpers, smoothing the design somewhat and removing the signature side-blades, and adding new style LED lights and a completely different interior.

The show car was powered by 4 separate electric motors positioned within the front and rear axles, that could give 313 horsepower and a 0-60 time of 4.8 seconds, with a large lithium ion battery said to give a range of 248 kilometers.

Audi E-Tron Concept Front

Audi E-Tron Concept Side

Audi E-Tron Concept Rear

Audi E-Tron Concept Interior

Audi Sportback Concept Car

Audi rarely produces a concept car that doesn’t make it into production in some form ,and the Sportback concept car is no different. Its job when launched at the 2009 North American International Automobile Show was to showcase the forthcoming A7 model.

The Sportback concept sits in the Audi range between the current A6 and A8 saloons and follows the trend of 4 door coupe models by taking a saloon style and applying a curvaceous coupe style swooping roof line. This trend was started by Mercedes with the popular CLS, and taken up by Volkswagen with the Passat CC, and then Audi with the A5 Sportback.

This trend followed by the lack of success that Audi has had with the flagship A8 model has suggested a different path to the brand by using the new A8 platform for the forthcoming A7 but giving the car a sexier look, which can also dramatically help residual values, as those of the large luxury saloons like the A8 are usually terrible.

The sportback concept featured a 3.0 clean diesel V6 TDI engine from the current Audi line up and is at the head of a push to introduce more diesel model into the US marketplace.

Audi Sportback Concept Front

Audi Sportback Concept Side

Audi Sportback Concept Rear

Audi Sportback Concept Interior

Audi R8 TDI Le Mans Concept Car

Audi had already launched its award winning supercar the R8 to the world in 2007, and wanted to showcase the car further to achieve maximum publicity for its halo effect on the rest of the Audi range, so in 2008 it produced the R8 V12 TDI Le Mans. Also highlighting the racing diesel engines that the Brand had entered into the 24 hr Le Mans race at the same time.

Audi effectively stuffed its massive 6.0 litre V12 diesel engine into the back of the R8, requiring some serious bulkhead modification as the motor was much bigger and heavier than the cars 4.2 litre V8 production petrol engine.

There were also some significant changes and upgrades done to the exterior of the Le Mans, such as much deeper front and rear bumpers with fins and a ground scraping front splitter, side skirts and a ground effect venturi system.

Audi R8 TDI Le Mans Concept Front

Audi R8 TDI Le Mans Concept Side

Audi R8 TDI Le Mans Concept Rear

Audi A1 Sportback Concept Car

Audi had sowed the world its Metroproject a year earlier, and following its announcement that the Metroproject would make production as the A1, Audi decided to display just what the 5 door version of the car could look like with its A1 Sportback concept.

The Sportback concept has all of the usual showcar glitz and glam with flashing over the top LED lights and an all white interior, but underneath the basics of the A1 sportback are all there to be seen, so the production version should have few visual differences, at least on the exterior.

The official production version of the Audi A1 is due in late 2010.

Audi A1 Sportback Concept Front

Audi A1 Sportback Concept Side

Audi A1 Sportback Concept Rear

Audi A1 Sportback Concept Interior

Audi Metroproject Concept Car

Audi first showed the Metroproject concept car at the 2007 motor show in Tokyo. The subcompact 3 door hatchback was a car to be destined for production, as Audi had seen the success BMW had made of the new Mini, and wanted a serious premium brand competitor for it.

Audi already had a ready made platform to base the car on – taken from the VW Polo, and a range of engines that could fit. The concept featured a 1.4 TFSI turbo engine producing 150 horsepower and as with most concepts, it was a hybrid, so combined an electric motor and lithium Ion battery alongside the petrol engine for enhanced economy and lowered emissions.

The Metroproject was seen as a successful design and has been carried forward with only minor changes into the production car due in late 2010 and to be called the A1.

Audi Metroproject Concept Front

Audi Metroproject Concept Side

Audi Metroproject Concept Rear

Audi Metroproject Concept Interior

Audi TT Clubsport Concept Car

Audi had enjoyed great success with the TT, and its second generation has been just as successful as the first. The TT has never been known for its sporting dynamics, as its platform always belied its humble VW golf roots.

The TT Clubsport Concept car was conceived to change that, offering a vision of what a hardcore TT Roadster would look like, the Clubsport has a cut down windscreen, much more aggressively styled front and rear bumpers, lowered suspension and bigger wheel arches over much larger alloy wheels.

Audi had intimated at time of launch that some sort of limited production run may be possible for the TT clubsport if customer demand was high enough, and that it may spawn a full on TT RS version at some point in the future – eventually launched in late 2009.