The Making of the Audi Concept C
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Hello everyone, welcome to Milan. Today is the start of something new. The first time I saw the sketches, it was truly impressive because it’s a sports car. That’s emotional. We want to build a car that is actually road-legal, that can drive 120 km/h, so a proper concept car, that builds on a prototype with an aluminum frame, and at the same time showcases
the complete Radical Next design, with all its perfection of surfaces, panel gaps, and utmost precision. In my opinion, it’s one of the most beautiful designs
Audi has ever had. Of course, for someone who loves cars, it’s an absolute highlight to be able
to work on something like this. It was important to me that this concept car
is truly functional. And I was thrilled that the colleagues even
pushed it through to road approval. We set out to build a concept car, entirely at Audi. But we’re not only doing it here in Ingolstadt; we’re also collaborating
with our colleagues from Neckarsulm. Until the world premiere: roughly four months. That’s not long at all. The bodywork—these are all one-off parts that we have to refine in terms of surfaces; we have to make tools for all the parts. The biggest challenge is that it’s a one-off. The quality standard is, of course, very, very high. Now the new parts are being installed. Then the entire drivetrain goes into the vehicle, and then they’ll start to connect everything. There are colleagues involved who have built many cars,
who are very experienced. And I’m pleased to watch when
younger colleagues do this for the first time. That’s motivating, because you realize that it’s
an art, and it will continue to exist. We’ve scanned the vehicle several times during the process. We have specifications, and the deviations
can’t exceed plus/minus one millimeter. For panel gaps we go under four millimeters. For other gaps under three millimeters. That is really a challenge. It’s always functionality, technology,
and design that come together. And by challenging ourselves and saying we want to present these simultaneously,
even in a concept car, something special emerges. The entire convertible top is a new development. It hasn’t existed in this form before. If it goes wrong, then we have a problem. We found out that now, during the third painting process, components in the roof area have warped. So the convertible compartment top is fiberglass laminate. During priming, it warped. Now the tolerance is off by 1 millimeter. Since the flaps have lifted, we’re now
trying to bend them back down. It’s worth a try.
If it doesn’t work, we’ll have to remake it. The defective parts, which we’re now remaking, set us back in time. We’re of course trying to pull other work forward, because we absolutely need to reduce the time loss. At the end of the day,
the car simply has to be finished by the deadline. Lighting is always a special topic. It’s a very elaborate component in the vehicle. It took many people and an incredible
number of days just for the lights. It’s a matte paint with metallic. We’ve done that before in other projects. So we knew it would be an enormous challenge. The team paints everything by hand. With this matte paint, the special thing is that it’s not particularly scratch-resistant, and it’s extremely hard to touch up. That means if there is damage, we really have to redo an entire side or repaint the entire vehicle. You also have to be realistic, because a car with
umpteen thousand components is a huge risk. We’d have a problem if the car were damaged. We have to be extremely careful today. But I think the result is phenomenal. The materials are incredibly exclusive. The aluminum components that will later be anodized, look very, very high-grade. This time we also did a complete vehicle scan. Although we measured the vehicle in 3D during assembly, including each part before and during assembly, we scanned the entire car again. And we set ourselves very high quality targets
for this process. That also meant that we had to completely
remake parts or change them in order to really achieve the quality targets. Today we have the appointment with our head of development and our chief designer. Yes, sure, we’re still working on it; we’re in the middle of the work. Not everything is perfect yet. Of course not everything always works linearly, so that everything works in sequence. It turns out that the color of the anodizing isn’t yet 100% right. Now we have to think about what we’re going to do. But we’ll keep working until it’s truly perfect. We want to excite the world with it. One month before the world premiere, our engineers are still working because things are being optimized and adjusted
over and over again. We all want it to be perfect too. We have people who can paint by hand in top quality; we have colleagues who can upholster seats by hand; others can assemble a steering wheel
with the highest precision. When you see this precision,
and you know a colleague has worked on it for an extremely long time and with such attention to detail, striving for perfection, it’s incredible to see. We are standing here by the design building, T3 in Ingolstadt It’s early morning and the sun is rising. We’re all eagerly waiting for the gate to open and the car to drive out. We’ve waited a long time for this moment. The gate opens and the car drives out for the first time. The car came toward me. And I have to say that moment was very moving for me. I also noticed that a colleague to my right
was fighting back tears. That moment was totally magical because it was so quiet. Audi has always produced very special cars that were a combination of technology and design, and for me, the Concept C falls right into the ranks of very special Audi vehicle
that convey technology and design. I got out and the scenarios in my head kept playing out: Will the door close properly now?
Will the window go up all the way? When you get up close, you can still see something. Do we have another rework planned? The tension only eases when you step back a bit and look at the other people how they perceive it. Audi has set benchmarks in terms of quality, look-and-feel, and material quality. With this car, I wanted to show what we are capable of. and to demonstrate with the concept car where we want to take the brand again. Actually, the car is finished now, but the work hasn’t stopped for us. We now have to present the car to the public. Here we are now in the Hyperbowl. It’s being shot in front of the LED wall. We’re seeing fantastic perspectives. Seeing what effects appear on the paintwork and the windows of the vehicle is very exciting. The reflections on the matte paint with the metallic
are absolutely fascinating. It shows that the work of the past months
has absolutely paid off. Now comes the most exciting part for me not just for me
but for the whole team: the moment when the car drives out of the workshop here. This is the moment when the vehicle
truly comes to life for us. Now we’re driving in a real environment
and get to experience it. We are here at the test track for prototypes. We will first determine where we stand
with the chassis and driving dynamics first closed and then open. I’m especially looking forward to driving with the top down. A real weight has now been lifted. The car has totally blown me away; all systems worked. We were able to try everything out. It’s great to feel and drive the car. To experience the dynamics a bit. Not just lateral dynamics,
but also longitudinal dynamic by accelerating. With the outstanding design and precisely this commitment to quality. That simply makes the difference. It makes a concept car authentic and truly communicates to the outside what we as Audi want to be again. Radical simplicity is at the heart of everything we do. We achieve clarity by reducing everything to the essential to what truly matters. We call it the Radical Next. Ladies and gentlemen, we are “Vorsprung durch Technik” in every language around the world. And going forward, we will again be known for “Vorsprung” in our cars. The answer cannot be more innovation and more speed. For us, it must be about enriching our customers’ lives. It is the mission of more than 80,000 Audi employees. Today is the start of something new. Our striving for clarity. I’m really happy that we’re here now and that everything worked out that we’re up here getting the feedback we need. It just makes me totally happy. What I like about the car is what the car represents: the courage, the confidence, being understated. All qualities that really feel Audi. At the center of this design philosophy: clarity clarity that creates emotions. And clarity is also the guiding principle with which we want to lead Audi into the future, how we want to position Audi: clarity in our organization, clarity in processes, clarity and speed in decisions. In my opinion, we couldn’t have done it better. We can truly be proud of ourselves the car will lead the way into the future of Audi, and we were part of it. I can’t possibly mention everyone I should thank. The whole team so many people were involved. Exceptional.
The unveiling of the Audi Concept C in Milan in September of 2025 marked the dawn of Audi’s new design philosophy. This car is more than a concept; it is the embodiment of athletic minimalism and a testament to Audi’s engineering mastery.
Clear. Technical. Intelligent.
It was the culmination of a joint effort by Audi’s most progressive minds, who dared to bring this vision from idea to reality. This was only possible by pushing boundaries and truly living up to “Vorsprung durch Technik.” Now, get an exclusive peek behind the curtains in this captivating film documenting the incredible work of the team behind the car.
Learn more: https://www.audi.com/striveforclarity
#StriveForClarity #Audi #VorsprungDurchTechnik #TeamAudi
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The vehicle shown is a concept vehicle that is not available as a production vehicle.
