Witness the Prologue to Audi's design future [w/videos]

Wed, 19 Nov 2014

Audi went Hollywood for its debut of the forward-looking Prologue concept car last night, pulling the silks back at a sprawling LA manse in the hills. The cost-no-object unveiling of the car, as well as its prominent positioning at this year's LA Auto Show, speaks to the importance with which the company views the styling you see here.

Prof. Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, maharishi of development for the three-rings brand, made two important announcements at the presentation: reiterating publicly his endorsement of new styling chief Marc Lichte, and telling us that Prologue design will be found on upcoming production versions of the A6, A7 and A8.

Take a close look at that imposing face on the Prologue – an amped up revision of the single-frame shield grille that has appeared on new models like the TT already – and get used to it. Lichte called out the grille as the new face of the brand, so we fully expect its deployment across the range as the 2016 models roll out.

As we discussed in our original post, there's also a big hope that "Prologue" refers to an upcoming A9 model. Certainly the turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 under the hood of the concept car seems ready to go for production, its 605 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque (shockingly) within striking distance of outputs for current models like the RS7. Nothing in the clean bodywork or precise interior work lead us to preclude production, either.

Have a look at two quick videos below – a Short Cut of the unveil and a walk around on the show floor and then tell us how you feel the future of Audi in Comments.

By Seyth Miersma