The Audi A8 Design Story
08-18-2003, 09:09 AM
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The Audi A8 Design Story
<img src="http://www.cardesignnews.com/features/2003/030802audi-a8/images/audi-a8-091.jpg">
<img src="http://www.cardesignnews.com/features/2003/030802audi-a8/images/audi-a8-089.jpg">
From: CarDesignNews.com
The Audi A8 Design Story
by Sam Livingstone
Every vehicle design development story is unique, but the development of the new Audi A8 is in many ways an archetypal example of a new vehicle design programme, touching on so many of the issues that impact on the vehicle design process.
The design had to build on the strengths and address the weaknesses of its predecessor, respond to changes in the market, position itself relative to a new sibling brand product (the Volkswagen Phaeton), relate to the rest of the Audi range and establish new design and brand identity cues for future Audis.
The starting point for the new D3 A8 was the original D2 A8 of 1994, the first Audi to compete fully in a class defined by the Mercedes S-class as well as being the world's first volume produced aluminium bodied car. The D2 A8's design was critically acclaimed at launch, but other than scale there were few design features or proportions to distinguish it from the A4 of the same period, and this is likely to have been a contributory reason for its relatively low sales. For the new A8 to improve on its predecessor's sales rate, the whole research and development team felt that a more focused, less 'all things to all men' identity was needed, which fitted with expressing a new more dynamic Audi character that the brand aspired to within the Volkswagen Group.
Recognizing the customer-facing logic of evolutionary-not-revolutionary design changes was also part of the initial design brief set by the team, as was building on the strengths of the D2, cited by exterior design team leader Dany Garand as timeless, elegant, having a high quality feeling and a good stance.
Starting in 1997 (a year before the launch of the current S-class Mercedes) the whole Audi design studio based in Ingolstadt was invited to contribute sketch proposals, from which about a dozen different themes emerged. Of these, six were developed into full size clay models (worked up in the traditional way adjacent to full size tape drawings) with at least three one quarter scale models produced to explore other design variations.
The six full size exterior clays were reduced to two in late 1998 and these continued to be refined in parallel for a year until the end of 1999 when the final theme selection was made, with Miclos Kovacs and Imre Hasanic the main contributing designers. This long development time was in part due to the body being made from aluminium, a material less able to take the small radii of sharp feature lines such as those on the new (steel bodied) A4.
In parallel to the exterior design development the interior design was progressed with a total of four full size models produced and the production car's horizontally themed instrument panel design dominant from early on, with Norbert Schneider, Mark Bergold and Enzo Rothfuss the main contributing designers.
Grouping major controls nearer the driver for a more driver focused identity whilst creating a more airy and spacious feel were early priorities for the interior team headed by Jurgen Albamonte. This was in part facilitated by the MMI interface, designed by Jurgen Schröder, that pioneered on the D3 A8 after the Avantissimo concept car preview, and also by class leading colour and trim from Barbara Krömeke and Melinda Jenkins.
The exterior and interior clay models were digitized and developed using digital design tools in a supporting, not leading, capacity before final production sign-off in mid 2000.
Unwittingly perhaps, the intention to move the car towards a more 'dynamic' position fitted with where Mercedes proved to be taking this market sector with the dominant S-class. It also differentiated the Audi from the Volkswagen Phaeton which Garand describes as 'less of a driver's car, more of a chauffeur's car'.
Relative to the A6, the A8 did away with the unbroken coupesque DLO, has a less contentious rear design and in general a more masculine character, whilst introducing new detailed Audi design features with high mounted rear lamps and strong front plan shape. New Audi design cues are even more evident inside the car with the unbroken full width IP binnacle surface running across the cabin, the clever intersection between this horizontal IP aspect and the center console, and the MMI driver interface system. And all of these design elements are congruent with the greater emphasis that the brand is placing on its more 'sporting' identity.
An archetype example of the design development process the A8's development might be, but it is also a unique story demonstrating the time and effort involved in delivering an appropriate vehicle design solution, and the responsibility design has for a brand's commercial success in the 21st century.
<img src="http://www.cardesignnews.com/features/2003/030802audi-a8/images/audi-a8-089.jpg">
From: CarDesignNews.com
The Audi A8 Design Story
by Sam Livingstone
Every vehicle design development story is unique, but the development of the new Audi A8 is in many ways an archetypal example of a new vehicle design programme, touching on so many of the issues that impact on the vehicle design process.
The design had to build on the strengths and address the weaknesses of its predecessor, respond to changes in the market, position itself relative to a new sibling brand product (the Volkswagen Phaeton), relate to the rest of the Audi range and establish new design and brand identity cues for future Audis.
The starting point for the new D3 A8 was the original D2 A8 of 1994, the first Audi to compete fully in a class defined by the Mercedes S-class as well as being the world's first volume produced aluminium bodied car. The D2 A8's design was critically acclaimed at launch, but other than scale there were few design features or proportions to distinguish it from the A4 of the same period, and this is likely to have been a contributory reason for its relatively low sales. For the new A8 to improve on its predecessor's sales rate, the whole research and development team felt that a more focused, less 'all things to all men' identity was needed, which fitted with expressing a new more dynamic Audi character that the brand aspired to within the Volkswagen Group.
Recognizing the customer-facing logic of evolutionary-not-revolutionary design changes was also part of the initial design brief set by the team, as was building on the strengths of the D2, cited by exterior design team leader Dany Garand as timeless, elegant, having a high quality feeling and a good stance.
Starting in 1997 (a year before the launch of the current S-class Mercedes) the whole Audi design studio based in Ingolstadt was invited to contribute sketch proposals, from which about a dozen different themes emerged. Of these, six were developed into full size clay models (worked up in the traditional way adjacent to full size tape drawings) with at least three one quarter scale models produced to explore other design variations.
The six full size exterior clays were reduced to two in late 1998 and these continued to be refined in parallel for a year until the end of 1999 when the final theme selection was made, with Miclos Kovacs and Imre Hasanic the main contributing designers. This long development time was in part due to the body being made from aluminium, a material less able to take the small radii of sharp feature lines such as those on the new (steel bodied) A4.
In parallel to the exterior design development the interior design was progressed with a total of four full size models produced and the production car's horizontally themed instrument panel design dominant from early on, with Norbert Schneider, Mark Bergold and Enzo Rothfuss the main contributing designers.
Grouping major controls nearer the driver for a more driver focused identity whilst creating a more airy and spacious feel were early priorities for the interior team headed by Jurgen Albamonte. This was in part facilitated by the MMI interface, designed by Jurgen Schröder, that pioneered on the D3 A8 after the Avantissimo concept car preview, and also by class leading colour and trim from Barbara Krömeke and Melinda Jenkins.
The exterior and interior clay models were digitized and developed using digital design tools in a supporting, not leading, capacity before final production sign-off in mid 2000.
Unwittingly perhaps, the intention to move the car towards a more 'dynamic' position fitted with where Mercedes proved to be taking this market sector with the dominant S-class. It also differentiated the Audi from the Volkswagen Phaeton which Garand describes as 'less of a driver's car, more of a chauffeur's car'.
Relative to the A6, the A8 did away with the unbroken coupesque DLO, has a less contentious rear design and in general a more masculine character, whilst introducing new detailed Audi design features with high mounted rear lamps and strong front plan shape. New Audi design cues are even more evident inside the car with the unbroken full width IP binnacle surface running across the cabin, the clever intersection between this horizontal IP aspect and the center console, and the MMI driver interface system. And all of these design elements are congruent with the greater emphasis that the brand is placing on its more 'sporting' identity.
An archetype example of the design development process the A8's development might be, but it is also a unique story demonstrating the time and effort involved in delivering an appropriate vehicle design solution, and the responsibility design has for a brand's commercial success in the 21st century.
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