# Audi Design Boss Stefan Sielaff Outlines New Direction for Brand Design, Reveals "AQR" Design Strategy



## [email protected] (Apr 9, 2004)

Audi brand design chief Stefan Sielaff outlined future plans for Audi's design language recently at an evening event held at a London Audi dealership. The push for a change is more than just the natural evolution that occurs over time. The brand is pushing a massive growth strategy that will result in a significant proliferation of models. The move will further differentiate and create an identity around products such as sedans, crossovers and sportscars.

Sielaff revealed the acronym "AQR" as the name of the plan, whereby A stands for sedans or road cars, Q stands for crossovers and R stands for sports cars, whereby each of these groups are differentiated by elements such as the slope of the grille, headlamp shape and the surfacing of body panels.

“We know that some people think our saloons look too alike and are well into a project to change that,” he told AutoCar Magazine, “we will mainly do that with the proportions of those cars”.









Sielaff revealed that under this plan, grilles on the A models will be more sloped as compared to a more upright grille for the Q family. How the headlights meet with the grille will also differ between the product families.

Finally, Sielaff revealed a current internal debate about that of electrically-powered e-tron models. Until now, e-tron concepts have looked like their petrol equivalents but with e-tron specific design cues such as wheels and grille. Some inside believe that the styling of the e-trons should be more radically different to exemplify the different drivetrain. Others argue that diesels don't differ significantly in design and thus neither should e-tron. We'd be curious to hear our reader's view on this question.

If you'd like to learn more about the Sielaff lecture in London, follow the link below to the AutoCar report.

* Full Story *


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## tanel (Jul 26, 2006)

They certainly need some new waves in their design: 
http://www.bmwblog.com/wp-content/uploads/bmw-6-series-gran-coupe-audi-a7-mercedes-cls-photo-2.jpg

Guess which one is the ugliest?! Ok, it's subjective, but despite all the design trophies, the A7 is still the least sexy of these and has the most unproportionate arse. I hope the sales of A7 won't fall too dramatically :thumbdown:

Tanel


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## Microice (Dec 10, 2011)

I have no problem with Audis looking the same but it's gone a bit too far. The last generation saloons and prefacelift A4/5 were distinct yet still recognisable as Audis. I hope they change soon, maybe with the new A3.


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