Audi 2014 Annual Report Download - page 134

Marc Lichte has also been finding inspi-
ration in art since his student days.
And in design from other fields. Fashion,
jewelry and furniture. When he accepted
his new assignment at Audi, though,
the first thing he did was retreat with his
team for a few days and nights into
the Audi museum mobile and its storage
areas in search of inspiration. Not be-
cause he favored retro design – on the
contrary ! That’s the last thing a design
brand like Audi needs, of that Lichte is
sure. “If you want to create tomorrow,
you have to know the past, you must
under stand it,” he mentions in passing,
almost glossing over what a formidable
challenge the past is for every new de-
signer at Audi. Marc Lichte believes Audi
is the design brand par excellence :
“Most of the other premium automakers
are endowed with a long-standing
design tradition, but Audi began defining
its own original design sensibility only
 years ago,” he says. And that meant
much more than just experimenting
with form and recognizing that good de-
sign excites the customer. “Audi always
took a radically different approach :
quattro, aerodynamics, lightweight con-
struction,” says Lichte. “Naturally all
that directly influenced the brand’s de-
sign. Form often directly followed func-
tion. That’s what has always given our
cars their own unmistakable aesthetic.”
December . The man seems remark-
ably relaxed considering that just a
couple of days ago he was in Los Angeles
to introduce the Audi prologue, a mile-
stone in design for the Audi brand. Marc
Lichte was named chief designer in
February . And now he’s chatting
casually with us about where he wants
to take the brand design, about what in-
spired him to create the highly acclaimed
concept car – and why he definitely want-
ed to present it at Design Miami after
the Los Angeles Auto Show. Dreams are
also celebrated at Design Miami, of
course. But everything at this event is on
a somewhat smaller scale. What’s ex hib-
ited here often looks futuristic enough,
but is as real as can be. Lichte seems to
have searched for precisely this setting
for his concept car, to intentionally
subject it to open discussions with the
best designers. Inspired by the world
of art that is being presented right next
door in the halls of Art Miami.
Twice a year the international
design scene converges at
Design Miami. At the center
of things is the Audi prologue,
which represents the future
design of the Four Rings.
We asked chief designer
Marc Lichte to tell us what
makes the concept car so
unique – and why he feels so
at home here among the
gallery owners, designers,
curators and collectors.
Marc Lichte
The new Audi chief designer considers
himself a preservationist and an
innovator. His prologue concept car
is defining the future of Audi design.
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