IS C FOR COURAGE?

A vision into Audi's future, the Concept C previews a new electric sports car coming next year – and we've driven it

- Thomas Geiger

MORE than 25 years have passed, but I remember it like it was yesterday. I can still recall every curve I drove through back then - and there were a lot. After all, the test route led through Tuscany and Umbria in Italy, and I only wanted to get out of the car when the tank was empty.

That was in 1998. But you never forget your first drive in an Audi TT. Yes, there was the quattro and the RS 2. But after them, Audi didn't come up with anything as radical for so long that the little sports car truly felt like a revelation.

It was not only because of its ingenious, purist design, which ushered in a kind of Bauhaus era for the German company, but also because the driving experience was as engaging and authentic, and it all came with a relatively affordable price tag.

Audi has squandered much of this appeal in recent years. The TT, which had become a little stale towards the end, has been dead since 2023, as has its big brother, the R8. The company's big-selling models, from the A3 hatchback to the flagship A8, as well as their SUV derivatives, are ordinary and interchangeable. There's little trace left of the 'Vorsprung durch Technik' (Progress through Technology) or the once unique design.

But everything is about to change, according to Audi's new CEO, Gernot Döllner. He is playing the role of a decisive agitator and is launching the Concept C to spearhead this bright new era.