Audi unveiled the Concept C just over a month ago at the IAA Mobility Show in Munich and the two-seater stole the show with its sleek lines and poised stance. Engineers didn’t stop at the reveal – they put the prototype through a full testing program to make it roadworthy with German plates so it could hit the public roads. As the first real look at Audi’s next electric sports car due in 2027, the Concept C hints at a future where battery power delivers the thrill of a classic roadster.
The Concept C has a small footprint, measuring 178 inches long, 77.6 inches wide, and 101.1 inches in wheelbase. It weighs 3,726 pounds, much less than many full-sized EVs, thanks to the battery pack being hidden between the seats, and the rear-mounted electric motor. That configuration lowers the seating position, similar to a mid-engine gasoline automobile in which the driver’s hips are close to the ground for a greater connection to the road. For the time being, the car is rear-wheel drive and has a top speed of roughly 90 mph, but Audi intends to use a dual-motor all-wheel-drive configuration in the production model for additional grip and acceleration.
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The front has sleek horizontal LED lighting and a new take on the brand’s iconic grille, which includes vertical air vents in the bumper. The sides are sleek and continuous, expanding the low roofline into a wedge that appears fast even while standing motionless. Around the back, louvers replace the rear glass, flowing into narrow LED strips and a large diffuser that draws the attention downward. The majority of these designs will be retained in production, including the removable top panel, which converts the car from closed coupe to open-air roadster in minutes.
A 10.4-inch screen folds flat into the dash when not in use, making room for a simple digital instrument cluster ahead of the wheel. When tapped, haptic buttons beneath the main display vibrate, and a touch pad on the door handle opens the latch – controls that combine touch and feedback, but we’ll see if they make it into production.
Building this one-off to street-legal standards required a significant amount of effort, as you’d imagine when Audi’s Gernot Döllner was laying out the story to journalists in the Dolomites. Of course, prototype laws required it to tick all of the proper boxes for crash testing, lighting standards, and emissions inspections, which could have easily converted this automobile into a circus attraction rather than a serious research tool. And, with the rear battery pack taking up that extra space and effectively centering the mass, they were able to broaden the sills and make the cabin feel much more intimate.
Many elements remain unknown, such as range figures and charge times, but the Concept C’s road premiere fills in a few critical gaps. It effectively sits between the previous TT and the R8 in Audi’s portfolio, providing electric punch without the sedan weight that comes with larger vehicles. And, with manufacturing plans calling for the Hungarian plant that manufactured the R8 and e-tron GT, they should be able to get production running as smoothly as possible. The name is still unknown, but Audi’s side-by-side photos with the TT and R8 have already inspired a good amount of speculation.
