Revolutions are made gradually, without traumatizing customers and without disruptions. Leaving the right time for those who necessarily have to change their habits. The master of this strategy, in the automotive field, is certainly Audi. And you just need to look at the bestseller Q3 to understand the point. It has a very intuitive man-machine interface, a dashboard full of reassuring physical buttons and multiple “normal” engines, i.e. TFSI and TDI from 150 to 245 HP.
The electrification seen from Q3 seems distant, but instead it is very close given that the strategy was confirmed by Oliver Blume, number one of the Volkswagen Group: the House of the Four Rings will launch its last car with an Ice engine in 2025, and every new model starting from 2026 it will be purely electric. However, this goal will be reached gradually, with a bivalent range, on the one hand already full-electric (like the famous e-tron) and on the other traditional because, as we were saying, the transition to new mobility according to the Audi vision will be gradual .
We don’t know if Blume reads Pasolini (“My love is only in tradition”) but the concept is clear. And this desire for “normality” is even more extraordinary when analyzing what the Ingolstadt company is up to given that it is preparing its entry into Formula 1, that it runs in rally raids with an electric prototype with range extender and that – after a pilot project success – now uses artificial intelligence in production processes for quality control of body shops.
It’s a detail if you want, but it’s also an example of how the future is around the corner, or rather already present, but without customers realizing it. Suffice it to say that while the world wonders about the dangers of ChatGPT, Audi already uses AI in series production, having tested it at the Neckarsulm plant. And by the end of 2023, the new technical infrastructure for the use of AI will in fact be installed in three other Volkswagen Group plants. Just to understand what we’re talking about: thanks to artificial intelligence, around 1.5 million welding points are analyzed on 300 vehicles for each production shift at the Audi plant in Neckarsulm.
Until recently, however, technicians used ultrasound to manually monitor the quality of resistance spot welding processes by carrying out sample analyses. In this way, 5,000 welding points per vehicle were checked, while with artificial intelligence the technicians can focus on any anomalies.
And let’s return to the litmus test of the silent revolution, to Q3. At Audi they officially present it as a “versatile icon”. And, probably, with the typical finesse that they use in technology, here they are not only referring to practical aspects, but also philosophical ones because “versatility” here can be understood as a concept with a thousand facets, including political ones. Starting from the fact that with a car like this you can please everyone, reassuring that part of customers who always view new things with suspicion. The concept was explained by the world’s greatest exponent in terms of traditions, Prince Philip of Edinburgh who throughout his very long life managed to remain faithful to the mantra of the English Crown: “Change does not change tradition, it strengthens it. Change is a challenge and an opportunity, not a threat.” And if he said so…
And so let’s go back to Q3. The first objective here was to make the compact SUV “very Audi”, as if to demonstrate to the world that the brand image is always the same, available in different technologies, from electric, to hybrid or thermal. That’s why the entire front is characterized by the large Singleframe grille with vertical slats. Connected by the shoulder line, the front and rear headlights then form a single design element. The customer can customize everything with aesthetic choices: basic, Advanced and S line. But the substance changes little, even when drawing on the eleven paint shades, including Pulse Orange and Turbo Blue, as well as different types of alloy wheels, from 17″ to 20″. The same goes for the passenger compartment where all passengers have more knee and head room, as on future electric vehicles. Here we get to this point given that the rear sofa can be moved forwards or backwards by 15 cm, to obtain a boot space of 675 liters or even 1525 by folding down the rear backrests.
Of course, the electronics are present in force: thanks to the Audi drive select driving mode selector with six different profiles (available on request), you can define the characteristics of the Audi Q3 based on the driving situation, the road and your needs. And then there are numerous driver assistance systems to choose from. Up to the maximum with the Adaptive cruise assist, available on request, which supports in the phases of acceleration, braking, maintaining the speed, keeping the car in the center of the road and maintaining the distance. And this time as standard, there is the MMI plus radio and the 10.25” digital instrument panel, the MMI plus navigation system with MMI touch (standard starting from the Business version) which includes a high-performance color display. resolution, can recognize handwriting.
But it is minimally invasive electronics. To be used if you want and which rarely requires additional attention from the driver. A nice, calm and serene way to get rid of diesel and petrol by 2025.
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