NEW YORK: Originally created out of a need to counter-attack the rather successful Mercedes-Benz CLS “four-door coupe,” the Audi A7 is arguably the best-looking five-door hatchback coupe out there, despite its more than obvious similarities with just about every other Audi model. Still, you can tell that the Ingolstadt brand went to extremes to make it as desirable as possible, with initial sales results suggesting that it went a little bit better than expected, especially considering that the A7 is still a niche automobile.
Unveiled back in 2010, the funky five-door fastback received a mid-cycle facelift in 2014, with the second generation not only being greenlighted, but its design has been already signed off by the new Audi head of design, Marc Lichte. Set to be launched sometime in 2017 as a 2018 model, the second Audi A7 will apparently get an all-new design that is supposedly much more radical than the current model.
Naturally, “radical” and “design” in the same sentence when talking about an Audi may sound like a bit of a stretch, but this is what the brand’s evangelists are saying. According to Marc Lichte, some of the visual motifs featured by the Audi Prologue Concept will find their way on the future A6, A8 and the A7, with each model apparently having its own visual identity. Not only that, but the new Audi head of design has also said that we should expect a more thorough look differentiation not only with other distinct Ingolstadt models.