This car game that I play
As a design geek paying absurd amounts of attention to the world of cars, I sometimes find myself wondering why I’m reading auto blog x again or paying $12 for a copy of UK Top Gear or Car magazine. It’s going to be the same thing as always: reviews of hypercars I can’t afford, pictures of vehicles that aren’t on the US market, concepts that are dolled up to the point of insanity, etc.
I keep reading. And reading. And reading.
And sometimes, like yesterday, there’s a pay-off. Audi debuted the new A8 at Design Miami – with Lucy Liu as emcee, no less – and the event was the perfect opportunity to not only gush over the gadget-y goodness of this new barge but also to put to use a crazy level of knowledge about the design direction the car takes.
First, the car. A few of my favorite images for you.
2011 Audi A8
Those headlights. God damn. I can't wait to see the full LED lights at night. (If I'm run over by an A8, this is why.)
And the interior is jaw dropping in its serenity and cohesive use of shapes and materials. Blows the doors off this:
Fuck you, 2009 A4 interior. Why are half of those buttons where they are? What's with all the chintzy looking cheap plastic? Especially since we started here:
Soothing. Logical. Clean. Simple. (And a 2005.) Stop chasing BMW because they are the only ones that can do crazy and asymmetrical.
But I digress. Sorry about that tangent. The message I’m trying to get across here is that the new Audi A8 is absolutely beautiful. What’s more, it’s a direct descendent of a recent show car, the 2009 Audi Sportback Concept.
I absolutely love that you can see the waterfall grille evolve its shape in this concept and find it applied in the A8. And they one upped the lights.
I do prefer the angles and curves of the concept to the final A8, but this was supposed to pave the way for a more curvaceous (and younger) model, the A7 so I can understand the more grandfatherly finished product.
Imagine. A concept turned to reality. And my joy at paying enough attention to see it happen.
If you’d like to see more about the Audi A8, Fourtitude is carrying some of the best photos of the launch and will certainly be chiming in with thoughts soon.
I just hope that some of these innovations make their way down to the A3 by 2012.