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“Vorsprung durch Technik” - hardly any other car brand was so closely interwoven with its advertising message as Audi.
And none of them disappointed customers like that.
Shaken by the diesel scandal and weakened by the constant change of personnel, especially in the development department, the pioneer has long since become a follower.
"Audi is miles away from the newcomer who fought at eye level with Mercedes and BMW 30 years ago," says car expert Stefan Bratzel from the Bergisch Gladbach School of Business.
"Audi has to make a statement if the company wants to play at the front again."
Could it be successful at this year's IAA auto and mobility fair in Munich?
In any case, the manufacturer has launched a project to show how the automobile could change in the coming decades.
And it is only indirectly about electric drive and autonomous driving.
Grandspace Concept is the name of the luxury liner that Audi has unveiled and which will be at the IAA next week.
Although announced as the successor to the A8, it should not compete with the S-Class from Mercedes and the seven-series BMW.
His job is to define new standards right away, this is how Marc Lichte introduces himself, chief designer in Ingolstadt, with the full backing of CEO Markus Duesmann.
Lichte designed a fully electric car that is more than five meters long and clearly distinguishes itself from typical luxury sedans from the outside.
In profile it comes as a hatchback.
That is still comparatively unspectacular, you know it from the A7, for example.
But if you walk around the car, you will see the “shortest Audi bonnet since the A2,” as Lichte puts it.
At the rear, the study surprises with solid arches of the roof with a small pane bent against the direction of travel and a classic trunk lid behind it.
In contrast to the A7, the luggage stays dry even in heavy rain.
The view from behind reveals another trick: the side windows are also unusually wide and only draw in with a sharp bend in the upper third.
It looks idiosyncratic, but creates so much space for shoulders and head that the occupants feel like they are in a convertible.
Lichte knows that he is breaking convention.
"We were always successful when we were brave," he remembers, however, of the time when Audi invented the Quattro drive or made the aluminum body popular.
"Customers want to appear progressive and therefore progressive cars," says design professor Lutz Fügener.
"The days of the classic notchback sedan are numbered." In addition, the electric drive enables and requires other forms.
It's about lower air resistance in order to gain range - that can already be seen in Tesla's Model S or the Mercedes EQS.
Electric drives also need less cooling air and therefore no more powerful grills on the bow.
And so Lichte did not use the lines in an unusual way, just to provoke.
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With the battery in the floor and the small motors on the axles, the overhangs get shorter and the interiors bigger.
Lichte took this as an opportunity to “really think the car from the inside out for the first time”.
Unlike before, he therefore first drew the cabin and then the body around it.
Then he asks for a seat rehearsal in a car that lives up to its name: The space is always large with a wheelbase of almost three meters and a length of 5.35 meters.
"Where the A8 and Co. were previously Business Class, we will in future be able to offer space similar to that in First Class," promises Lichte.
But who actually needs this growth?
Maybe the wrong question is - what is possible is done, this industry mantra also applies in times of e-cars and semi-autonomous driving.
And so Audi has other ideas for creating even more space inside.
Fancy a nap while driving?
If you press the "A" in the wreath of the futuristic steering wheel, the entire cockpit disappears behind a console.
The pedals withdraw, the driver becomes a passenger and the cozy seats offer significantly more freedom of movement.
The backrest tilts back 40 degrees.
In this position, a video projection can be enjoyed over the entire dashboard.
It continues up to 60 degrees - you need a nap while driving?
The most comfortable place in the car is now in the front row, not in the back on the right.
"Why look against a backrest when you have a better view in front?" Asks Lichte from the reclining seat.
In this study, the car does the job of the chauffeur.
In order for motorists to experience all of this in traffic, the technology of autonomous driving has to be improved and the regulations have to be adapted.
The interior concept is designed for level 4 autonomous driving, which is not yet permitted.
So far, only »Level 3« has been permitted.
The driver is allowed to put his hands on his lap.
But he must be able to take command again within 30 seconds, and the legislature only allows this autopilot to be used on the autobahn at speeds of up to 60 km / h.
Currently only the S-Class and the EQS from Mercedes can do that.
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Audi was ready at the premiere of the current A8, but then lost patience with the legislature and did not bring the level 3 functions.
And so Lichte speaks of a “bet on the future” with the GrandSphere.
But even if it doesn't work right from the start with the computer as the chauffeur - the head of design is convinced that it will work in the second half of the decade.
Until then, the two electric motors with 530 kW put off, a sprint value (0 to 100 km / h) of less than four seconds and a top speed of more than 200 km / h.
Especially since the battery with its 120 kWh promises a range of over 750 kilometers and should be able to be charged quickly thanks to 800 volt technology.
The Grandsphere is not a unique specimen that is only supposed to stimulate the imagination; Audi has specific plans for it.
And although the car will only be owned by the rich, it should facilitate the development of cheaper vehicles with similar features
This applies in particular to the new way of using space.
The digital experience, the world of light and fragrance as well as the sound should be easily transferrable to other cars.
There is no longer a need for long wheelbases and a leather interior.
The minibar and the drinking water dispenser between the seats will certainly not be available that quickly for an A3.
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And so Audi is praised in advance for the GrandSphere.
"For a long time they were on the move with the handbrake on during development, but the new leadership is heading into a new era very dynamically," says automotive economist Ferdinand Dudenhöffer.
"With this dynamic, you have a good chance of overtaking BMW in the premium market soon."
Stefan Bratzel also sees Bavaria on the right track with such studies.
But he attaches a certain expectation to it: "It will only work out if Audi keeps these imaginative promises in two or three years."
Head of design Marc Lichte can live with it: “Because what we're showing there in Munich is 75, 80 percent the finished car.
The surprise with the next A8 will be that there will be no more surprises. "
Thomas Geiger is a freelance author and was supported in his research by Audi. Reporting is independent of this.