Audi Prologue - a prelude to a bold and beautiful future?
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Audi Prologue - a prelude to a bold and beautiful future?

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By ByronGoAuto - 17 December 2014

AUDI is the automotive world’s byword for design.

In fact, on pure aesthetics alone, it is one of the few car brands to transcend the industry, in much the same way as Apple has. Intentional or not, tell people you drive an Audi and you are making a statement about taste (unless it’s a Q7 of course).

However, the world of fashion does not stand still for one moment, meaning that what is cool right now would most probably be considered passé later, so even aspirational marques like Audi have to keep moving.

The famous Audi ‘Single Frame’ grille is evolving into a lower, flatter, wider and edgier design motif – it’s a big step for the company.

Hence the Prologue Concept; as the name suggests, it is the precursor to something. Bearing the four ringed logo, you can be sure design is that something.

Unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show last month, the long, wide and low car you see before you is “a foretaste of the future of Audi,” according to the company’s new head of design, Marc Lichte. 

Audi’s head of development Ulrich Hackenberg calls the Prologue a “perfect showcase of Audi DNA”.

“When he moved to Audi (earlier this year, from Volkswagen)… Lichte launched a design offensive,” Hackenberg said. “His clear philosophy and precise understanding of Audi DNA let him develop a design strategy that is opening up entirely new perspectives for us. 

“It is progressive and highly emotional; it expresses the technological competence and quality claim of the brand perfectly. The Audi prologue is its first proponent – it is a ‘signature car’ for Audi.”

The rear points forward, or – as the Germans say – in the direction of motion, to accentuate power, athleticism and luxury. 

Giving us a peek into the flavour of the next-generation A8 limousine flagship, as well as the smaller A6 sedan and A7 Sportback, the 5.1-metre long concept has been presented as a two-door coupe – feeding rumours that Audi has been contemplating entering the luxury stratosphere with its take of the Bentley Continental GT.

This isn’t it, of course, for the show car is actually smaller than the current A8, though the massive wheels (measuring 22 inches and wearing 285/30 tyres), huge wheel haunches, clean muscular surface tension and elegant sweep of the sleek silhouette can easily suggest otherwise.

Indeed, all three elements are not there by chance, since they emphasise another one of Audi’s signature motifs – the quattro all-wheel drive system. More specifically, the wheel arches are meant to remind onlookers of the era-defining Quattro turbo 4WD.

The blistered wheel arches and big wheels are meant to evoke the 1980 Audi Ur-Quattro rally legend that came to epitomise the era.

“Audi stands for sportiness, lightweight design and the quattro permanent all?wheel drive,” Lichte said. “In the Prologue, we are expressing this know?how in a new form – we have put the sportiest car in the luxury segment on wheels.”

Interestingly, the rear faces forward, and that’s a change from previous Audis, while the rear window has an inward concave curve. It’s all meant to evoke a luxury yacht. 

There’s plenty more to be read about where Audi design is evolving by studying the wedge-shaped headlights (formed by a projection lens with a laser light source) and grille treatment, which is lower and flatter yet wider and edgier than the previous ‘Single Frame’ style introduced in the early 2000s. Note they contain several horizontal crossbars with a diamond pattern and ends that split.

The Prologue uses a 4.0-litre bi-turbo V8 driving all four wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission to achieve a 0-100km/h time of just 3.7 seconds.

The Prologue uses a 4.0-litre bi-turbo V8 driving all four wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission to achieve a 0-100km/h time of just 3.7 seconds.

Only one Prologue has been built, but this rare beauty is drivable nevertheless. Beneath that commanding bonnet is a 4.0-litre V8 bi-turbo delivering 445kW of power and 750Nm of torque to all four wheels via an eight-speed Tiptronic automatic transmission, for a standstill to 100km/h-sprint time of just 3.7 seconds. That’s not bad for a vehicle weighing in at 1980kg.

Speaking of things in the 1980s, fans of the 1987 Honda Prelude Si 4WS take note – there’s also a dynamic four?wheel steering system, where the rear wheels can turn up to five degrees. That Japanese coupe was also a pinnacle in design and engineering, as well as an elegant coupe.

This might be wishful thinking but we can see hints of the famous Prelude 4WS system in the Prologue’s own ‘All Wheel Steering’ set-up.

Audi claims the Prologue can achieve 8.6 litres per 100 kilometres and CO2 emissions of 199 grams per kilometre, thanks in part to the much-mooted new 48?volt electrical subsystem, using a powerful belt starter generator, which turns the powertrain into a mild hybrid and has an energy recovery output of up to 12kW during braking.

Adaptive air suspension with controlled damping is fitted, with lightweight five-link designs at either ends of the vehicle, while the brakes are large carbon-fibre ceramic discs employing six-piston fixed calipers.

Despite tipping the scales at nearly two tonnes, lightweight construction predominates, using what Audi refers to as “stiff multi-material body” consisting of aluminium and ultra-high-strength steel. 

With a length of 5.10 metres, wheelbase of 2.94 metres, width of 1.95 metres and height of 1.39 metres, the Prologue is almost as large as an A8 sedan. 

The Germans have gone for a more traditional GT grand touring approach with the cabin in terms of packaging if not actual execution, since the interior itself marks is just as bold as the exterior for the Ingolstadt firm.

“The surfaces for displays and controls are innovatively integrated into the instrument panel and console of the centre tunnel, and the infotainment system brings driver and passenger into dialogue with one another”, Audi states.

New high-tech items include the “butler” – a software program that identifies incoming occupants from their smartphones before setting the seats and climate control system according to their preferences. 

The dash panel is a single continuous unit, emphasising space with its simplicity, and is divided into two – an upper level that takes in the binnacle (known as the Audi virtual cockpit) and vents, while a lower plane that wraps around through to the rear sections.

The Prologue’s seats and console appear as if they’re ‘floating’ to emphasise luxury and space

The centre console bisecting the car looks as if it is hovering, as do the front seats, since they are side-mounted to the central floor tunnel. One of the flexible tablet-style touchscreens – there are four in the Prologue – is just forward of the gear lever.

This is just some of the fresh thinking that you’re likely to see in a next-generation Audi soon. What makes the Prologue so unique and important is that it contains so much of the new stuff, from exterior design and advanced engineering to the tiny details inside that help make the brand’s vehicles so desirable.

The last time Audi signalled its design intentions so emphatically was with the Nuvolari Coupe Concept from the 2003 Geneva motor show.

So while we’re unlikely to see an ‘A9’ in the immediate future, you’ll see much of what’s exciting in the Prologue on the 2016 A8, 2017 A6, 2018 A7…

Byron Mathioudakis goauto.com.au

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