Audi Sees No Reason To Stoop To Retro Models

Who cares what Audi has to say about exterior car design? The Only semi-good Looking car they produce is the R8. And even that car looks strange from certain angles.

The A4 is Blandsville, The S4 is Blandsville with a body kit, The A5/S5 reminds me of a Chunky Chick, The A6 is doofy and dated looking, the A8 lacks any inspiration or emotion, the Q7 looks like huge monstrosity. I guess the Q5 is OK. But it isn’t anything that people would give a double take.

Out of BMW, MB and Audi, Audi’s design’s are the most boring. Combine that with sub-par comparison loosing performance, and higher per model prices than BMW and MB and you end up with the worse German brand out there. Complete Ripoffs.

I think the retro car market is for the American market anything German retro I think would look disgusting perfect example Mercedes AMG SLS Gullwing I think that car is an an abomination of german retros and I hope the other 2 out of the BIG German 3 dont follow this. the performance of course is fine but as far as retro looks it gets a 0%, thumbs waaaaay down, negative, or however you want to call it....it looks like crap in my opinion

LexSucks - You may think Audi's designs are boring while other people consider them modern and understated. My guess is that the cars that you would consider beautiful might be seen as garish and overstyled by others. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder after all! Listening to your comments, one would think Audi is failing on all fronts. Why then are they gaining market share from the competition? What subpar comparisons are referring to? We've all seen comparisons where the S4 was placed ahead of the 335i, the A6 was placed ahead of the 535i and the new A8 was placed ahead of the 7 series. There are also comparisons where the BMWs placed ahead of the Audis. Of course comparisons are not absolute but there is plenty of information out there that proves Audis are just as compelling as BMWs and MBs.

“My guess is that the cars that you would consider beautiful might be seen as garish and overstyled by others.”

- Not a good guess. And this isn’t a subject about my personal preference in cars.


“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder after all! Listening to your comments, one would think Audi is failing on all fronts. Why then are they gaining market share from the competition?”

- Because “Bland” sells. Just look at Toyota. Beauty is in the Eye of the beholder up to a point. I'm sure they're are folks who find Rosanne Barr to be attractive.


“What subpar comparisons are referring to?”

- The ones in which an Audi is compared against a similarly priced vehicle. The only way Audi can compete is with a vehicle that costs more.

I also do not care what Audi has to say about exterior design. BMW and Mercedes-Benz both have introduced some retro design cues in the recent a philosophy. They also have shown a good restraint, which is hard to past, mainly because they have design heritages that are worthy of such do - in that it's important not to take retro too far (ie PT Cruiser, Chevrolet HHR, Ford Thunderbird).

I think it's dangerous that Audi used the word "never" when stating their intentions with retro. Let's see what they say a few decades from now when they actually have some design history to draw upon.

Very happy to read this. not an audi fanboy, but have much respect for their understated & elegent designs which age gracefully. Compare the R8 to the new SLS. SLS is a throw back which in my opinion already looks dated. R8 is an all new fresh and innovated design that will forever look modern.

I agree, ATrip. Stylistically, the SLS will end up being MB's equivalent to Ford's Thunderbird redux--exciting at first, then embarrassing. Audi's "bland" design is obviously striking a chord with the global car-buying public since their market share is increasing even though their cars seem, to enthusiasts, to be slower and more expensive. However, I'm not going to pat them too hard on the back for their design philosophy, given that they have the least to draw inspiration from as far as iconic design legacy--especially compared to MB and BMW. Aside from the Mini, I'd say BMW has done a good job resisting the temptation of going retro (please no Isetta) and, other than the M cars, have been generally understated as well.

Audi will never design a Retro model.. simply because they never design anything other than a stretched of squashed A4.. they don't have the imagination or bravery to design anything retro.. or anything 'new' for that matter!!!!!

Bravery and foolishness are often confused.

The starting point in deciding to do a retro design is to have a great classic design with a lot on emotional impact in your brand's heritage.

If you don't have any cash in that account you really can't write a check on it can you?

99,9% of the last century audi designs were ugly. the only iconic car is the ur quattro, which wasn't a beauty too. retro works when your 30 or 40 years old cars were better looking than your current ones and not the other way around.

+1 old audi's are ugly boxes, I've seen nicer looking volvo's.

It is true, more success for Audi means more baseless and subjective hater comments.

Retro to me means lack of imagination to move forward. Retros have proven time and time again to bring excitement for a few months or no more than 1 year and then the excitement quickly dissipates into as much fanfare as the model it evoked in the first place. As a multiple Audi owner, I love their cars (among many other things) because they are always moving ahead without adding boy racer looks but rather classy, sporty, modern and innovative design. Just look at all the "me-too" LED eyebrow copy cats on the market now... including Porsche and MB who BTW added a boring straight line LED which makes it look tacky rather than add style. It says "ME TOO" rather than "Cool". It is rather lame in my opinion that they could not come up with something better in response. The A5 and A4 LEDs evoke emotion, part of the reason why A4/A5 sales are doing extremely well.

As far as Im concern FACTS do the talking, and Audi has all the facts from motorsports to styling to leadership to efficiency to classy to performance. Audis are for the Ultimate Driver and there are no substitutes.

Ha ha... yeah, that's right those are facts... not your blind-fanboy-comments...

If it weren't for BMW, Audi wouldn't have LEDs inside of their headlight housings. And the reason why the A5 and S4 are doing so well is because boring designs sell well, and clueless people value LEDs inside of headlight housings as a significant part of the car. What a joke!

The A4 and A6 are such stunners aren't they? LOL! You don't have to be a "professional" to see that there are some Audis that are just plain dull. And isn't there another thread here where a professional is implying just that?

PatricBateman

After a while you will learn that a significant quantity of members to this site are actually Kids who have never been near vehicles they are commenting on.

It took me over 1 year to recognize this and since then I just ignore the Retards.

They never let Facts get in the way of a Good Rant.

Look @ our boost counts. LOL!! LOL!!! LOL!!!

Most people agree with me, and not you and your buddy I95speedingtickets. Who believes that anyone who disagrees with him is a child. What a joke.

BMW and Mercedes-Benz both have introduced some retro design cues in the recent past, mainly because they have design heritages that are worthy of such a philosophy. They also have shown a good restraint, which is hard to do do - in that it's important not to take retro too far (ie PT Cruiser, Chevrolet HHR, Ford Thunderbird).

I think it's dangerous that Audi used the word "never" when stating their intentions with retro. Let's see what they say a few decades from now when they actually have some design history to draw upon.

"because they have design heritages that are worthy of such a philosophy"

This is one of the points of contention--is design EVER worth worthy of repetition? And I don't mean design elements or cues, like Audi's obvious nod to the 100 Coupe (that stuff gets recycled all the time), I'm talking about an out-and-out retro-rehash like the SLS. You call that restraint? What cars have BMW and Audi resuscitated from their past? (Maybe it's not fair, but I don't count the Mini as part of BMW's design heritage or philosophy.)

AlleVier, I would consider the BMW Z8 to be a an "out-and-out retro-rehash."

I was wondering about that and you're right. I definitely knew there was something classical about the styling, but I didn't realize it was based on the 507 until I looked it up.

Audi continues to move forward, and there hasn't been the need to reintroduce the past.

The US Auto industry can't get enough of rehashing older designs; Mustang, Camaro, Challenger, etc, and the aforementioned and bizarre HHR and PT Cruiser. I think part of this has to do with the emotional attachment Americans have to their cars. And the fact that culturally the US has redone everything from the Brady Bunch to Charlie's Angels to the A-Team, so it's no surprise that muscle cars get redone. There's not much left to remake.

In most European offerings, aside from the Mini and the 500, there's been little nod to the past aside from a natural design progression. Audi has some of the beautiful vehicles in the market now.