When Audis Design Director Marc Lichte talks about his four most recent studies, he seems liberated: "No more compromises at last." The cars are designed for a time when cars are no longer bought, but customers borrow the right model for every occasion. In such a world, the developers construct less huge all-round cars - but more special vehicles that can really do a thing well.
Audi has now completed a quartet of such electric fantasy cars at the IAA car show - and wants to show that the manufacturer does not always think in the usual categories such as saloon, station wagon or SUV. Thinking about the car - is not that what everyone is always asking for?
Moon car for high earners
Audi already had this claim for the Ai: Con, a luxury long-distance glider for the time of the autopilot two years ago. And even more for the Ai: Race, which alone is committed to driving pleasure. The Ai: Me in turn wants to know light as an alternative to faceless robotic axes for the city.
The latest and latest addition to this series is the Ai: Trail. At first glance it looks like a kind of moon car for high earners. Audi envisioned a recreational car for couples who want to spend a weekend in nature, with camping on the beach or hiking in the mountains. Maybe these users will not own a car or drive a completely different way in daily life.
photo gallery
9 pictures
Audi Ai: Trail: The radical SUVThe impression that the car would be better suited for another celestial body, arises mainly through the glazed, edgy cabin. The sides are on display, the balustrade is very low. Instead of instruments, there is only one smartphone that you put on the steering column. Passing the reduced dashboard, the driver looks through the glazed bow onto the road. This in turn acts like a helicopter, albeit at zero altitude. The impression reinforced this type control yoke, which replaces a classic steering wheel.
Although the Ai: Trail is 4.15 meters shorter than a current Q3 (but 2.15 meters wide), it seems airier inside than a Q7. This also because the drive technology disappears as in any electric car in the car floor and the full vehicle area can be used for the occupants. However, the airy-looking vehicle with 1.75 tonnes is not really that light.
Drones replace high beam
In the details of the SUV, the developers have let off steam - as usual in such studies. There are integrated outdoor drinking bottles, on the ceiling there is a pair of binoculars instead of rearview mirrors, and there is a prominently placed first aid kit. The rear seats are stretched like hammocks in the frame, they can also be stowed in the car floor or hung in the next tree.
And if the developers are allowed to brainstorm to their heart's content, something comes out: Instead of a conventional high beam, the Ai: Trail has two LED drones on the roof, which rise when needed, fly ahead and show the way the car.
Less emphasis has been placed on classic Audi features by Lichte and his team. Although the car with its four close to the wheels mounted engines (together 320 kW and 1000 Nm), four-wheel drive and particularly yielding off-road tires in the terrain to be extremely mobile. But the speed is limited to 130 km / h with regard to the range. Audi wants to reach such a radius of action of 400 to 500 kilometers.
Expert considers the usage scenario to be naïve
If you want to drive faster than 130 km / h on the road, you should order another car at "Audi on Demand", who wants more infotainment, more luxury or more space: "That's the charm of the on-demand Idea, "says Lichte," with every car cover like another user scenario. "
Would that be a world where people no longer drive into the city on big SUVs but only rent off-road vehicles when they really need them? The Cologne-based design professor Paolo Tumminelli is skeptical. He reprimands the naivety with which Audi wants to make credible the possible purpose of the Ai: Trail. He also doubts that such a concept pays off. "In that sense, the Ai: Trail is hardly more convincing than the jet fighter vehicles launched by the American Big Three - GM, Chevrolet, Ford - in the 1950s for propaganda purposes."
Good idea or distraction maneuver?
But it is the question of how to understand such a study - as a serious idea for the mobility of tomorrow, as a distraction or as a mental relaxation exercise in an industry that is considered by many to be yesterday. "The study proves that in Ingolstadt, they think far beyond flat saloons and thick SUVs with baroque front grills," says Tumminelli.
In addition, Audi is not accused of making craftsmanship: "The design concept is charming, radiates a certain romance and certainly hits the nerve of a young, bored generation." An electric off-road vehicle that reconciles man and nature is not always a recurring theme at the design colleges. The Ai: Trail is as it should be for a study: "Stylistically conspicuous and content-wise unrealistic."
