Audi design studios: boundless creativity

They challenge the everyday world and conventions and they’re far ahead of their time: with a total of 450 experts, the design studios in Beijing, Malibu, and Ingolstadt form the germ cells for Audi’s new models, show cars, and innovative mobility concepts. Being established around the globe shows that Audi is a global brand and working nonstop on the automotive portfolio of the future. The locations are networked with one another via the design headquarters in Ingolstadt and keep in close contact. At the same time, these three creativity forges are also competing: before their designs become reality, first they have to prevail in internal competition. Moreover, Audi Design uses its studios in China and the US as seismographs: the teams track down trends on site from the fields of mobility, art, and culture and adapt them for local and international markets. “Vorsprung durch Technik, which means ‘progress through technology’, defines Audi as a global brand. To make that claim, we in Design also have to be right up close to developments and trends in the strategically important global markets,” says Marc Lichte, head of Audi Design. “That’s why we have our own design studios in China and the US, which give us direct input from those countries, but also concrete concepts and designs.”

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