Photo: Audi
When you’re the design boss at a volume-oriented automaker, it goes without saying that the higher-ups and beancounters have the greatest say in your line of work. This stands true for Marc Lichte, head of design at Audi since 2014 and the man behind the Prologue and Q8 concepts.
Lichte was promoted to his current position after working on production models that include the Golf V, VI, and VII, Passat, Touareg, and all-new Arteon. Not bad for a guy who started his career at Volkswagen in 1996 while studying Transportation Design, isn’t it?
Already a veteran of the industry, Lichte would like to create a competitor for the BMW 8 Series despite the fact this segment isn’t met with strong demand. Speaking to British publication Autocar, he said: “I love the shape of a two-door coupe, but it is also true that the volumes are much lower than for four-doors. In the future, who knows? We have many ideas in this direction.”
To this effect, the long-rumored A9 could become real in a matter of years. Don’t get your hopes up, though, because crossovers, SUVs, electrification, and self-driving technology are the main focus points of Audi and the Volkswagen Group at the present moment. But if Lichte’s wish were to come true, the coupe would share its backbone with the all-new A8.
“Wait a minute, didn’t Bentley pull off the same trick with the MSB-underpinned, Porsche Panamera-based Continental GT?” It did exactly that, but over at Audi, the MLB Evo vehicle architecture is the building block. With this sort of backbone, the 8 Series-rivaling A9 or whatever Audi intends to call it would benefit from six-, eight-, and twelve-cylinder engines, including the 6.0-liter twin-turbo W12 from the Continental GT.
On that note, when can we expect the A9 to hit dealer showrooms? “First we must launch the A6, then we have the Q8 next year [as in 2018], A1, and Q3.” In other words, 2020 or even beyond.
Already a veteran of the industry, Lichte would like to create a competitor for the BMW 8 Series despite the fact this segment isn’t met with strong demand. Speaking to British publication Autocar, he said: “I love the shape of a two-door coupe, but it is also true that the volumes are much lower than for four-doors. In the future, who knows? We have many ideas in this direction.”
To this effect, the long-rumored A9 could become real in a matter of years. Don’t get your hopes up, though, because crossovers, SUVs, electrification, and self-driving technology are the main focus points of Audi and the Volkswagen Group at the present moment. But if Lichte’s wish were to come true, the coupe would share its backbone with the all-new A8.
“Wait a minute, didn’t Bentley pull off the same trick with the MSB-underpinned, Porsche Panamera-based Continental GT?” It did exactly that, but over at Audi, the MLB Evo vehicle architecture is the building block. With this sort of backbone, the 8 Series-rivaling A9 or whatever Audi intends to call it would benefit from six-, eight-, and twelve-cylinder engines, including the 6.0-liter twin-turbo W12 from the Continental GT.
On that note, when can we expect the A9 to hit dealer showrooms? “First we must launch the A6, then we have the Q8 next year [as in 2018], A1, and Q3.” In other words, 2020 or even beyond.
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