The Audi Concept C Previews A BMW i4 Coupe Rival

The 2-door automotive is a shrinking area of interest. Simply ask BMW. It’s about to tug the plug on the Z4 with out planning a direct successor. Including insult to harm, the 4 Collection Coupe and Convertible won’t be lengthy for this world both. Nonetheless, there’s a glimmer of hope for these in search of a enjoyable automotive. Come 2028, we’d get an i4 Coupe. Not one other five-door liftback marketed as a “Gran Coupe,” however an actual coupe, codenamed NA2.

Audi has already phased out the TT and R8, but it surely too is laying the groundwork for a coupe comeback. With the Idea C, BMW’s rival can also be hiding a roadster in plain sight. The coupe morphs into an open-top sports activities automotive by electrically folding its targa-like panels for limitless headroom. Munich would possibly reply with an i4 Convertible (NA3), although, just like the i4 Coupe, it hasn’t been formally confirmed for manufacturing.

For Audi, the brand new idea is greater than a preview of a sports activities automotive coming later this decade. It’s additionally a window right into a recent design language. Very similar to BMW with the Neue Klasse, Audi is embracing a “much less is extra” method. Out go the busy exterior traces and cluttered dashboards. Of their place, smoother surfaces in and out try and revive the elegant simplicity of the unique TT.

Drawing a parallel with BMW’s upright kidney grilles on sure fashions, the Idea C additionally adopts a vertical grille. That design alternative has a legacy behind it, courting again to 1936 with the Auto Union Sort C race automotive. Transferring nearer to our occasions, Audi says the front-end therapy additionally nods to the 2004 A6, a rival to BMW’s E60 5 Collection.

Future 4 Rings fashions can even undertake a quad-light motif at each ends. Nonetheless, the manufacturing model of the Idea C isn’t more likely to look fairly as clear. Count on correct door handles and loads of sensors, however in any other case, the styling ought to stay true to the present automotive. One characteristic we’d like to see attain manufacturing is the retractable infotainment display screen.

Measuring 10.4 inches, the contact show tucks neatly into the dashboard when not in use. Some older Audis additionally provided a hideaway display screen, however that’s lengthy gone. Given widespread criticism of shifting too many capabilities into touchscreens, we’re glad to see bodily switchgear on the steering wheel and middle console. In the meantime, BMW goes the opposite approach. Its upcoming iDrive X ditches the rotary knob between the seats, although some conventional controls will stay.

Audi is coy on technical specs, confirming solely that the idea is only electrical. There are not any plans for a combustion engine, whether or not up entrance or behind the seats. The Idea C does, nevertheless, have mid-engine proportions harking back to the R8 moderately than the front-engined TT. Dimension-wise, it appears to fit between the 2, elevating questions on a potential connection to Porsche’s upcoming electrical Boxster and Cayman.

Competitors is at all times wholesome, and we will’t wait to see how BMW and Mercedes reply. In a sea of cumbersome crossovers and SUVs, fans would welcome a revival of low-slung, two-seater coupes, even when they’re electrical…