I think it would be a project that wasn’t so much in the public limelight, but had a very big impact on the way the industry works in our technical discipline. A number of years ago we worked on developing a groundbreaking new software technology for aerodynamics simulations, which gave us a significant advantage in accuracy and flexibility.
People thought it couldn’t be done, so when we went public with it, it took the entire industry by surprise, because we showed that it was in fact possible, and we were the first team to achieve this globally.
Aerodynamic innovation has been at the very heart of Audi’s Vorsprung durch Technik philosophy for more than 50 years. Which models throughout Audi’s history brought the biggest steps forward in aero design and efficiency?
There is no doubt that the Audi 100 in 1982 and the Audi A2 in 1999 were the two biggest innovators in the world of combustion-engine vehicles. Both were driven by the need to significantly improve fuel consumption and so their design was fundamentally aero-driven.
At the time, the very streamlined greenhouse, the flush glazing, and the aerodynamically optimised body trim of the Audi 100 were quite revolutionary in automobile design. The A2 also pushed the boundaries of car design with its proportions based on the work of Wunibald Kamm, and its optimised underbody and wheels.
Now that we’ve entered the era of EVs, I am very impressed by what we achieved with our e-tron GT and A6 e-tron. In a very general sense, I’m proud that we were able to demonstrate with these two vehicles that there is no fundamental incompatibility between top-notch aerodynamics and progressive, eye-catching design.
In the case of the e-tron GT, we were able to make use of active vehicle components to achieve outstanding aerodynamics results, while the A6 e-tron makes use of a vast number of detailed engineering solutions to reach its optimum.
On that note, what inherent advantages does electrification bring to the worlds of aerodynamic design and efficiency? And what about disadvantages? How is Audi overcoming these?