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New Delhi: Concept cars are often just for display at motor shows or museums and getting papped. However, Audi does things differently and recently, the brand went on to register the Concept C for street use even though it isn’t meant for sale. To make it road legal, the car had to be equipped with turn signals, windshield wipers, and a horn.
Quite often, concept cars can’t move under their own power, and even if they could, they come with very weak electric motors, meant for them to simply arrive on stage. However, the Concept C is much closer to being production-ready than any other concept car. It gets a rear-mounted electric motor that takes it to 144 kph.
The production versions are set to arrive in 2027 and will be much faster, of course. However, even at the concept stage, this is an impressive figure which follows its IAA Mobility Show, where nobody thought of it as more than a showpiece.
With the car’s debut still a couple of years away, Audi isn’t giving out too many details yet, except that it has a single motor that drives the rear wheels. Motor1 quoted Daniel Schuster, spokesperson, technical, that the Concept C comes on a newly created architecture, which is to be shared with the Volkswagen Group. Which could signal that even Porsche might use it for their low-sitting coupe, Boxster and Cayman.
There is also a dual-motor Quattro-equipped variant with much more power under the hood.
The Concept C weighs approximately 1,690 kg, which is the same as the rear-wheel-drive R9 V10 Spyder. The Concept C comes with a battery pack behind the driver and in front of the rear axle, like a mid-engine layout would usually be. Car magazine Autocar have driven this briefly and learnt from the brand that they have developed a new suspension specifically for this car instead of taking parts from the TT or R8.
Most of the things that Audi have shown will be in the production version as well. Massimo Frascella, Audi’s Chief Creative Officer, has said that around 87 per cent of the final look has been displayed in the car. A first in the brand is the electrically retractable hardtop that will make it to production as the sole body style since a fixed-roof coupe isn’t in the plans at the moment.
It isn’t exactly a TT or R8 revival, though there are images of both besides the first-gen models. In the photo, it comes with RS6 (C6) and the fabled 1936 Auto Union Type C race car with the supercharged 6.0-litre V16 engine. Audi CEO Gernot Dollner has said that they are expecting annual sales in the five digits, but in the lower range and are confident they still can have profits.
Sharing development costs with the electric 718 might help the VW Group to achieve economies of scale, but there are no confirmation if the two cars are related. Even though Boxster and Cayman will have the ICE make a comeback, Audi are not doing so with their sports car. In a world nostalgic for both the R8 and TT, it might have been an interesting option. More so because there is the stance and the look that is somehow reminiscent of those two cars.
