This Project was my final thesis project of my graduation from Art Center. The decision of what type of concept car I wanted to do for my thesis was made when the Cadillac Ciel Concept was presented. It is still one of the very few concept cars that really have excited me and it still does. Not because of its retro design or sentimentality, but only because of its simplicity and beauty.
During my research I was looking for different brands which had the opportunity to have such concept blended in with their product line up. I noticed something interesting about the AUDI brand. AUDI has a cabriolet version of many small through mid size sedans and coupes and also its sport scar the AUDI R8. There was a perfect vacant spot where my concept could blend in with AUDI’s line up. So I chose AUDI brand and the whole goal of introducing such concept was to introduce a new halo car and use this opportunity to introduce a new design language for the brand.
The statistical research revealed that the target customer of a vehicle of such caliber are usually male who are educated, married and their annual income is over $250K. They expect that their cars should have strong, distinctive and sophisticated styling because in the end the car that they drive is a reflection of their status and lifestyle.
This car has a 3.0 V6 Turbo Diesel Hybrid(TDH) power-train in which the ICE engine will be driving the rear wheels while the front wheels are powered by two electric motors. This setup in essence is gathering the best of both world for fuel efficiency and great power delivery due to low RPM high way cruising of diesel engine and low end torque electric motor for in-city stop and go scenario.
This was a very fun project for me and I hope you enjoy the outcome.
