Photo: Audi
About two weeks from now, one of the biggest auto shows in Asia opens its doors in Shanghai. As the local market has steadily increased to become the industry’s most important, carmakers have shifted some of their most exciting premieres there, in a bid to capitalize on the country’s new found appetite for cars.
In recent years, it was not at all uncommon for some of the biggest carmakers in the industry to skip auto shows on their home continent. While doing so, they managed to maintain a continuous presence in China, where all the action is.
In March, at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show, Audi brought only electrified cars, including the Q4 e-tron, a preview of a future production model based on the Volkswagen MEB platform, and the e-tron GT. The two cars were perhaps the brand’s most exciting models at its otherwise rather boring booth.
Not the same can be said about what Audi will be showing in Shanghai. Doing something it hasn’t done in a very long time, Audi will display a new design study, meant to illustrate an autonomous compact car for the future.
“Audi AI:ME is the name of a new design study that the brand with the four rings will be presenting at the Shanghai Motor Show on April 15, 2019. The showcar illustrates the vision of an automated driving compact car for the megacities of tomorrow,” Audi says in a very short statement.
The three sketches of the AI:ME released on Tuesday show an unlikely four-ringed car, a hatchback that seems to be using suicide doors and a very short front hood. The interior design shows a dashboard filled by screens and wood trim deployed here and there.
No other details about the design study were released by Audi, not even ones that explain the strange name chosen for the project. The 2019 Shanghai Auto Show opens on April 16, so we’ll know more about the concept soon.
In March, at the 2019 Geneva Motor Show, Audi brought only electrified cars, including the Q4 e-tron, a preview of a future production model based on the Volkswagen MEB platform, and the e-tron GT. The two cars were perhaps the brand’s most exciting models at its otherwise rather boring booth.
Not the same can be said about what Audi will be showing in Shanghai. Doing something it hasn’t done in a very long time, Audi will display a new design study, meant to illustrate an autonomous compact car for the future.
“Audi AI:ME is the name of a new design study that the brand with the four rings will be presenting at the Shanghai Motor Show on April 15, 2019. The showcar illustrates the vision of an automated driving compact car for the megacities of tomorrow,” Audi says in a very short statement.
The three sketches of the AI:ME released on Tuesday show an unlikely four-ringed car, a hatchback that seems to be using suicide doors and a very short front hood. The interior design shows a dashboard filled by screens and wood trim deployed here and there.
No other details about the design study were released by Audi, not even ones that explain the strange name chosen for the project. The 2019 Shanghai Auto Show opens on April 16, so we’ll know more about the concept soon.
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