Audi Shows Off Concept C: Minimalist Sports Car or Just Familiar Ideas in New Packaging?

The most striking feature is what Audi calls the “vertical frame” – a design cue meant to define the brand’s new face while nodding to both the Auto Union Type C of the 1930s and early-2000s A6 models. It’s a symbolic flourish that carries the story of heritage meeting the future.

The roof mechanism is technically new for Audi: an electrically folding hardtop made of two sections that appear as a seamless monolithic body when closed, but promise open-air freedom at the push of a button. Clever, yes, though hardly groundbreaking – more an acknowledgement that even an electric sports car needs its showpiece trick.

Inside, the theme continues with anodized aluminum buttons offering the trademark “Audi click,” paired with haptic feedback and so-called “shy tech”: a display that remains hidden until summoned. The concept straddles the divide between those who loathe touchscreens and those who demand them.

Despite all the lofty talk of “radical simplicity” and “emotional purity,” Audi has released no hard specifications – no word on battery capacity, output, range or performance. Concept C, for now, is more of a design platform than a real-world car.

Still, Audi insists the concept signals a future production model and will shape the language of what comes next.