Origin of a species - why the 90's C5 Audi A6 should be a design icon

So with the prospect of yet another week without any form of half interesting automotive design news to comment on, I thought it was time to recognise what I think are the most influential and important designs that have hit the showrooms in the past 30 or so years. The 80’s and 90’s were not really admired for their exploits in exceptional design, but out of it formed the foundation of the car industries recent explosion of interesting and daring design. So I thought about it, and the usual cars and designers came up, but one slightly unsung hero kept entering my mind; the 1997 C5 Audi A6.

The A6 may seem like an unlikely choice for such an accolade, but it was launched during a time when it’s rival E39 BMW 5-Series was lauded as the world’s most complete car. Although based off an entirely new VW platform, the A6 was out performed, out driven and generally outclassed by its Bavarian nemesis. Where the A6 did forge ahead was the design, instilling itself as a direct forbearer to Audi’s design revolution about to take place post 20th Century. Most people will likely place-hold this recognition for the original TT, but it was designer Claus Potthoff’s A6 which preceded the iconic coupe by a single model year. The C5 A6 was a fresh interpretation of a very conservative segment, shunning the current hierarchy’s subtle and evolutionary design for crisp surfacing and modern detailing. The A6’s profile bucked the textbook three box norm for a fastback silhouette with the sloping rear screen accentuated by the stretched quarter light and compact boot lid. The constant radius on the boot itself was an impossibly modern detail highlighted by the flush taillights and flash of (critically) brushed steel trim at the junction between boot and rear bumper.

Out front, the classically subtle Audi face had started to create a corporate identity, distinguished by details like the subtle flashes of chrome and understated black plastics. Suddenly excessive chrome detailing (Jaguar S-Type anyone?) did not transcend luxury like it had done before, creating a smooth and contemporary theme over the design. The surfacing itself was very simple, its flanks were defined by a singular character line with only the subtle wheel arch flares punctuating their flow. This could have left Audi with a very heavy looking body, especially on smaller wheels, but Audi countered this with the use of uncoloured black plastic along the sills and base of the bumpers, a finish that was unusual to see in this class. Instead of being a cost-saving exercise, it was a way for Audi to reduce the visual weight of the painted body and make the wheels appear bigger. This is a trick used by SUV’s these days, but it arguably started here in a modern context. In later models and the S6, these components were body coloured, but Audi supplemented this change with the inclusion of bigger wheels to carry the extra visual weight. The reason I like this detail is that it’s something that the customer would likely never notice unless it were pointed out to them.

Inside the A6 was not such a leap in terms of design, but this was the first Audi with a noticeable lead over its contemporaries in regards of quality and use of materials. When you think about the virtues of Audi today, it’s generally – Audi – modern looking, lovely interior, slightly boring – sentiments of which were arguably first seen in this model. To liven up the interior, Audi did indulge in some particularly 90’s colour and trim options, but on the whole, the C5 A6 again found itself being an aesthetic foundation in Audi’s portfolio until the D3 A8 of 2002.

Previously I mentioned the brushed steel found on the A6’s boot lid; well that for me represents in a nutshell what made the C5 such a game changer in automotive design. It was a change of attitude from chrome, wood and beige leather being a byword for luxury, instead founding the brushed aluminium, black leather and glossy black trim aesthetic we see in pretty much all cars premium cars today. It was an exercise of adapting to a new interpretation of what premium is as opposed to luxury, an ideology companies like Jaguar have only recently been able to recognise. The original TT may have been on the bedroom wall poster, but the A6 was the first productionised realisation of what has been at the core of Audi’s spectacular rise from premium brand outsider to trend setter

The C5 A6 hit its peak in the form of the RS6 Avant, a performance estate that again helped Audi transform a niche’ into part of the success that Audi now is. Although not all new Audi’s share the same progressive design, their core products like the new B9 A4 are still pushing the boundaries of class design with superb details like shut lines you’re able to grate cheese on and the crispest surface folds I have ever seen. It screams quality, and although the new A4 may be harassed by those saying its changes have been too subtle, I think that it is instead a perfect reflection on the company and its value’s, value’s if not originally established by the C5 A6, were refined by it and helped set the foundation for what a premium marque’s desirability is based on in the 21st century.