Audi e-tron Spyder Concept: design process

Audi has released an official design story of its e-tron Spyder Concept, presented at the 2010 Paris Motor Show. The material also includes photos from the design and prototype construction process. The Audi e-tron Spyder Concept was developed from the fist sketches to the final prototype in just five months.

Below we report the official press release from Audi. Apart the self-promotional intent, the document is an interesting reading about the work done by Audi designers, engineers and modelers.

It is a functional, rectangular building with a gray facade – a hall like thousands of others in the industrial parks dotting our cities. The only sign of any significant activity is a lone Bavarian flag fluttering on a wooden balcony that seems a bit out of place. This seeming wasteland is in reality a place where the future of the automobile is quite literally being made.

Things are much livelier inside the hall. Two designers and four modelers are working on a large block of brown industrial plasticine. The result of their handiwork is pioneering for the design of one of Germany’s most successful carmakers. This is where the Audi e-tron Spyder, the latest show car from AUDI AG, is being created.

The faces are drawn with tension at this decisive moment. The modelers and designers are going through the data on screen together one more time. There is no time for lengthy consideration and discussions. Then the decisive click on the “Confirm” button.

The mill mounted on two giant arms goes into motion. Fed with the vehicle data, the mill begins carving the designers’ design out of the clay. For the next 18 hours, one layer after another is cut away until the first side of the car stretched over a frame of steel, wood and rigid foam stands on the floor of the hall in three dimensions and in full size.

The mill receives a new load of data for the second half of the model. The designers work on two different vehicle sides in this early form-finding phase, which allows alternatives to be compared directly and makes decisions easier.