The Audi Concept C has been named winner in the Concept Car category at the Car Design Awards 2026, an industry recognition judged by a panel of leading automotive design journalists and experts. The award, organized by Auto&Design, places Audi alongside fellow 2026 winners Renault and Jeep across the production and brand design categories.
For Audi, the win centers around a design that signals the brand’s focused shift toward reductive, clarity-driven design language. The jury’s citation underscores that direction, calling the car “a masterclass in radical simplicity,” highlighting its monolithic surfacing and cohesive form language as both forward-looking and rooted in Audi’s design heritage.
JURY CITATION
“Concept C brings minimalism back to the heart of contemporary car design, with a pure and coherent form that appears sculpted from a single block of aluminium, faithful to the brand’s heritage yet futuristic. A masterclass in ‘radical simplicity,’ where clarity, technology, and emotion merge into a work of profound design intelligence.”
The recognition arrives as Audi continues to recalibrate its design identity under Massimo Frascella, who now leads the brand’s global design direction. His response to the award points directly to the team-driven nature of the project and the broader philosophy behind it:
“I am deeply grateful to Auto&Design for the Car Design Award 2026 to the Audi Design team and the Concept C. Being recognised by the design community is incredibly meaningful and a reminder of why our work matters so much. Every day I get to witness the passion, dedication, and outstanding creativity of the Audi team and I feel truly honoured and proud to be part of it.”
The Concept C itself reflects a deliberate move away from complexity toward proportion, surface purity, and visual restraint. That approach aligns with Audi’s broader trajectory as it transitions into a new generation of electrified and software-defined vehicles, where design is increasingly tasked with expressing both technological depth and brand continuity without excess.
Within that context, the Car Design Award serves as a signal that Audi’s evolving design language—under Frascella’s leadership—is beginning to resonate with the industry at large.
