concept car

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Audi design finds its minimalist groove again with Concept C

Audi Concept C, Audi TT, Cars, concept car / /

Fans of the TT rejoice—there’s a new Audi two-seater on the way. The German automaker just unveiled Concept C, a stylish and minimalist sports car that marks the start of a new styling philosophy and, hopefully, a return to the bold designs that brought it so much success.

There are design cues and links back through Audi’s history, but this is no pastiche of a retro design as we might have seen from J Mays. Rather, Audi’s design team under Chief Creative Officer Massimo Frascella says that the design influences include one of the pre-war Silver Arrows racing cars, the 1936 Auto Union Type C—Audi being one of the four brands that combined to form Auto Union.

The design is deceptively large—bigger than a TT or even an R8. Aud

The slats that cover the Concept C’s rear bring to mind the cooling louvres at the rear of the Type C, necessary to let the heat generated by its monstrous V16 engine to escape the rear engine bay. But I also see some of the streamlined Rennlimousine in the Concept C’s slab sides.

It’s a much simpler design than the TT concept from 1995, which manages to look almost fussy in its details compared to the Concept C. But the way the air intakes are formed underneath the headlights reminds me a lot of the Bentley Hunaudieres, a mid-engined concept from 1999.

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Mercedes-Benz Vision V Concept: Is this the solution or a sideshow?

Cars, concept car, Mercedes-Benz / /

An orange tint of smoke in the air always contributes to dramatic lighting for sunrise photos in Los Angeles. But this early in the fire season, the coloring serves as an inescapable reminder of greenhouse gas emissions and the mobility solutions that might reduce or at least slightly mitigate the future of radical weather crises. It’s fitting, then, that a massive 75,000-acre fire burns in Santa Maria, in addition to a small brush fire on the 110 freeway less than a mile away as I visit the Elysian Park Helipad overlooking Dodger Stadium to check out Mercedes-Benz’s new Vision V concept van ahead of its American debut at Monterey Car Week.

The Vision V certainly looks like a concept car, with futuristic and swooping lines that somehow manage to make an otherwise utilitarian van shape at least somewhat stylish. Over 800 tiny light louvers spread across the grille and headlight bar at the front and the taillights at the rear, where a microscopic spoiler matches a chrome lower diffuser.

As usual with these design exercises, the Vision V sports huge wheels and low-profile tires, but a Benz rep on hand claimed that the final production design will strongly resemble this concept form. On a wheelbase of 139 inches (3,530 mm), the van measures 18 feet long by 82.7 inches wide and 74.5 inches tall (5,486×2,100×1,892 mm). Most of those dimensions will change by only fractions of inches, other than the height, which will grow about 3–4 inches taller (76–101 mm).

Expect the production Mercedes van to look quite a lot like this. Michael Teo Van Runkle

Still, expect short overhangs and big wheels, even if not quite the size of these absurdly chrome 24-inchers. Mercedes also confirmed vague powertrain details, including front-wheel drive and 4Matic variants—presumably single and dual-motor, though my question about a tri- or quad-motor à la the electric G-Wagen received a firm “no comment” in response. Similarly, no word on battery capacity other than a range target of 300 miles.

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