What: Audi V8 Design Study by Porsche
Design Studio: Porsche Style Studio
Model Family: V8 (D1, type 4C)
Debuted: Not established in the available sources; developed ahead of the production Audi V8’s 1988 introduction
Year: 1984 , 1985
Registration Plate: N/A
Status: Unselected exterior design proposal
Individual Designer: Not identified in the available sources
Number Produced: 1 design model
Model / Generation Code(s): type 4C
Chassis / Matrix: D1
Body Style: Four-door sedan
Engine: N/A
Transmission: N/A
Drivetrain: N/A
Power: N/A
Peak Torque: N/A
Weight: N/A
Acceleration (0-100 km / 62 mph: N/A
Length: N/A
Body style: 4-Door Sedan
Exterior Paint Color: Silver
RELATED
Road Cars: 1988-1993 Audi V8 (D1, type 4C)
OVERVIEW
During development of the Audi V8, Porsche Style Studio produced an exterior design proposal for Audi’s prospective flagship sedan. Photographs reproduced in Audi design histories document a silver study with pronounced fender forms and an unusual front air intake incorporating the four rings.
The proposal represents an alternative direction considered for the V8, rather than the design adopted for production. Its distinguishing features combined recognizable Audi references with a more sculpted treatment of the body, particularly around the wheels and across the front end.
DEVELOPMENT CONTEXT
The V8 project presented Audi with the challenge of establishing a luxury flagship while working from the Audi 100’s basic architecture. The accompanying design history notes that the model was initially intended to carry the Audi 300 name. Differentiating it from both the Audi 100 and the more expensive Audi 200 was therefore a central design consideration.
The same account identifies Hartmut Warkuß as assigning Erwin Himmel to the in-house design effort, working alongside Peter Birtwhistle. Those credits concern Audi’s own development work; the illustrated Porsche proposal is separately attributed to Porsche Style Studio. The supplied material does not identify the individual responsible for the Porsche design or establish when it was submitted.
EXTERIOR DESIGN
The Porsche proposal’s most distinctive feature is its interpretation of Audi’s four-ring emblem. Positioned between rectangular headlamp assemblies, the rings occupy a narrow opening in the nose, becoming part of the air-intake treatment rather than sitting within a conventional radiator grille. A broad, largely uninterrupted bumper surface and a lower opening complete the front end.
Viewed from the rear three-quarter angle, the study retains an upright passenger compartment and a conventional three-box sedan profile. Pronounced shoulders over the wheels give the body greater visual width. The source caption explicitly connects this smooth and sculpted box flare fender treatment to the Audi quattro Coupé (a.k.a. “ur quattro”), identifying an attempt to carry an established Audi performance cue into the flagship sedan.
Other visible details include flush-style door handles, dark window surrounds, disc-like wheel designs similar to period Porsche wheels and horizontally divided rear lamps. Large four-ring identification on the trunk repeats the emphasis on Audi branding seen at the front. These observations describe the photographed exterior study; the sources do not establish its construction method or whether it was operational.
CONTEMPORARY DESIGN ASSESSMENT
According to these sources, the proposal’s borrowing of the quattro’s box flare fender theme as overly literal and finds the integration of the four rings into the air inlet unsuccessful. Whether this is the published author’s assessment or the assessment from the original proposal period is unclear.
Nevertheless, the photographs record a distinct response to the V8 brief: a flagship whose identity relied on prominent Audi symbols and muscular body forms. The design offers a useful comparison with the more conventional grille and exterior treatment ultimately adopted for the production car.
Dating back nearly a decade prior to the Audi RS2 Avant, another Porsche proposal that made it into production, this design is particularly interesting when one considers just how much further collaboration between Porsche and Audi could have extended had things worked out differently.
OUTCOME AND DOCUMENTATION
The Porsche exterior proposal was not adopted for the production Audi V8. Its archival significance lies in documenting an outside studio’s contribution to the model’s design development and an alternative interpretation of Audi’s emerging luxury-car identity.
The supplied excerpts do not establish a project number, exact completion date, mechanical specification, number of studies constructed or present location. Engine and drivetrain information in the surrounding production-V8 text should therefore not be assigned to this proposal without additional documentation.
SOURCE BOOKS
- Title: Audi Design / Vorsprung durch Design
Author: Othmar Wickenheiser
Publisher / Edition / Year: nicolai / Edition Audi Tradition / 2005
Pages: 130-136
Relevant Material: German-language photographs and caption identifying the Porsche Style Studio proposal. - Title: Audi Design: Evolution of Form
Author: Othmar Wickenheiser
Publisher / Edition / Year: Delius Klasing / Edition Audi Tradition / 2014
Pages: 122-123
Relevant Material: English-language discussion of Audi V8 design development and caption assessing the Porsche proposal.
PHOTO GALLERY
