Model: Audi Front UW Jaray Replica
Year: 2012
Date: April 1, 2012
Type: Historical reconstruction / promotional vehicle
Original Vehicle: Audi Front UW Jaray – 1934
Base Vehicle: Audi Front UW
Design: Based on Paul Jaray‘s original streamlined body
Created For: Audi UK
Purpose: Audi A5 advertising campaign
Advertising Campaign: The Swan
Agency: BBH London
Production Company: Park Pictures
Director: Joachim Back
Registration: LU 3956, replicating the original car
Color: Grey
Status: Extant
Current/Recent Collection: August Horch Museum, Zwickau, Germany
BACKGROUND
In 2012, a reconstruction of the 1934 Audi Front UW Jaray was created for Audi UK in connection with an advertising campaign for the updated Audi A5.
The original 1934 Front UW Jaray Stromlinienwagen concept had been created around an Audi Front chassis acquired by Paul Jaray’s AG für Verkehrspatente at the end of 1933. Jaray designed a radically streamlined two-seat body that was constructed by Huber & Brühwiler of Lucerne and introduced at the Geneva Motor Show on March 16, 1934.
The original car remained in use for many years, eventually becoming Jaray’s personal automobile in 1939. During this second phase of its existence, the Audi Front UW Jaray was repeatedly modified and repainted before being destroyed following a carburetor fire, reportedly during the 1950s.
With the original no longer extant, the 2012 reconstruction recreated the distinctive Jaray design for a very different purpose: connecting Audi’s early aerodynamic history with the contemporary Audi A5.
AUDI UK RECONSTRUCTION
The 2012 Front UW Jaray differs in provenance from several of Audi’s better-known historical reconstruction projects.
Audi Tradition has undertaken or supported carefully researched recreations of lost vehicles from Audi and Auto Union history, including Auto Union racing cars reconstructed with specialists such as Crosthwaite & Gardiner. Available evidence instead associates the Front UW Jaray reconstruction specifically with Audi UK and its 2012 A5 advertising campaign.
The August Horch Museum subsequently identified the vehicle as a reconstruction produced by Audi United Kingdom in 2012. Contemporary photographs taken at the NEC Classic Motor Show in Birmingham in November of that year similarly describe the car as a replica built for Audi’s then-recent A5 television advertising.
No documentation presently identified establishes the workshop or company responsible for physically constructing the replica. Likewise, the degree of involvement, if any, by Audi Tradition in researching or specifying the reconstruction has not been established.
That distinction is potentially significant when evaluating the car as a historical reconstruction. Its original purpose was advertising rather than museum interpretation or the reconstruction of a lost Audi specifically for a historical collection.
DESIGN
The reconstruction captures the essential architecture of Jaray’s 1934 Front UW: a broad lower body incorporating the wheels, narrow passenger compartment, curved windshield, tapering rear body and prominent vertical tail fin.
It is finished in grey and carries the LU 3956 registration associated with the original automobile.
Its detailing, however, is unusually restrained. The body has smooth uninterrupted sides, simple full wheel covers and a clean rectangular radiator opening. It lacks the prominent bright side molding and exposed radiator-cap treatment visible in photographs of the original during later stages of its life when it shifted to become Paul Jaray’s personal car from 1939.
This gives the reconstruction an exceptionally pure appearance that emphasizes the aerodynamic geometry of Jaray’s design.
Period photographs establish that the original Front UW changed considerably during its working life. Images show different paint treatments, wheel covers and exterior details, while historical accounts state that the vehicle was repeatedly modified and repainted.
Period images also show the original with both more conventional chrome hubcaps and smooth full wheel covers. The latter treatment is consistent with the aerodynamic intent of the vehicle and appears frequently in later illustrations and representations.
No period photograph presently identified, however, shows the original Front UW in precisely the combination of details represented by the 2012 reconstruction.
The replica should therefore not necessarily be interpreted as a recreation of one specifically documented historical configuration. It may instead represent a particularly clean interpretation assembled from historically documented elements of the original Front UW.
Whether that appearance was based on archival evidence that has not been publicly documented or reflected aesthetic decisions made for the advertising campaign remains unknown.
THE SWAN
The Front UW Jaray reconstruction was created for Audi UK’s 2012 advertising campaign for the updated Audi A5.
The resulting television commercial, titled The Swan, debuted in the United Kingdom on April 1, 2012, during a commercial break in ITV’s Titanic.
Created by BBH London and directed by Joachim Back through Park Pictures, The Swan used the streamlined Jaray Audi as the central element of a visual interpretation of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling.
Presented in a deliberately historical setting, the unusual streamlined Audi encounters ridicule and disapproval from the people around it. Its unconventional shape appears awkward and alien among the more familiar automobiles of the period.
The story ultimately connects the experimental streamlined Audi with the contemporary Audi A5, presenting the modern car as the refined descendant of Audi’s early experimentation with aerodynamic form.
The campaign summarized that connection with the message:
“We’ve come a long way since our first streamlined Audi.”
Both 30- and 60-second versions of the television commercial were produced, supported by print, digital and outdoor advertising.
Audi UK’s Head of Marketing Dominic Chambers was identified as the client representative. BBH’s creative team included Matt Doman and Ian Heartfield, with Nick Kidney and Kevin Stark serving as creative directors. Media planning and buying was handled by Mediacom.
1920s IDENTIFICATION ERROR
Contemporary descriptions of The Swan placed the historical vehicle depicted in the commercial in the 1920s.
That identification is incorrect.
The reconstruction is based on the 1934 Audi Front UW Jaray, recognizable through its proportions, narrow greenhouse, rectangular radiator opening, distinctive rear fin and LU 3956 registration.
Audi did have an earlier Jaray-bodied streamlined automobile dating from 1923. That car, currently identified by Audi Tradition as an Audi Type C but historically described as a Type K, represented an earlier application of Jaray’s aerodynamic principles to an Audi chassis.
The two automobiles are particularly susceptible to confusion. Both were one-off streamlined vehicles based on Audi chassis, both were developed around Paul Jaray’s aerodynamic principles, both original vehicles have been lost and modern representations of both now exist.
The 1923 Audi was itself part of a broader family of similar Jaray-bodied automobiles built using chassis from Ley, Audi and Dixi.
The vehicle reconstructed for Audi UK in 2012, however, specifically represents the later Audi Front UW Jaray introduced in 1934.
The incorrect 1920s description is significant because the convincing period presentation of The Swan has allowed the error to propagate in subsequent references to the replica and original vehicle.
RELATIONSHIP TO THE ORIGINAL
The 2012 reconstruction reproduces the overall shape and character of the original Front UW but should be distinguished carefully from the historical automobile.
The original was a one-off experimental vehicle constructed around an Audi Front chassis and subjected to continued development and modification throughout its working life. Its appearance changed between its 1934 introduction and eventual destruction.
The reconstruction was created approximately 78 years later for an Audi advertising project.
Its exceptionally clean exterior treatment may have been selected to emphasize the aerodynamic intent of Jaray’s design and provide a visually stronger contrast between the unusual historical automobile and the contemporary Audi A5.
No documentation presently identified establishes why this particular combination of historical details was selected.
For archival purposes, the replica’s appearance should therefore be documented as a 2012 interpretation of the Front UW Jaray rather than used as definitive evidence for the appearance of the original car at any particular point in its life.
RADICAL SIMPLICITY
Viewed from the perspective of contemporary Audi design, the 2012 reconstruction also presents an interesting visual parallel with the Radical Simplicity design philosophy introduced by Audi decades later.
Its smooth body surfaces, absence of decorative brightwork and particularly simple upright rectangular grille give the Front UW reconstruction a remarkably reduced appearance.
Those elements create a visual connection with the design language later demonstrated by Audi Concept C, where geometric clarity, reduction and an upright rectangular frame became important identifying elements.
No evidence presently establishes that the Front UW Jaray directly influenced Concept C or the development of Audi’s Radical Simplicity philosophy.
The relationship should therefore be understood as a visual and historical parallel rather than documented design lineage. Nevertheless, viewed retrospectively, the 2012 reconstruction creates a particularly clear bridge between the reduction inherent in early aerodynamic design and Audi’s later pursuit of deliberately simplified forms.
LATER MUSEUM LIFE
Following its use in the Audi A5 campaign, the reconstructed Front UW Jaray entered the historical exhibition environment.
It was publicly displayed at the NEC Classic Motor Show in Birmingham in November 2012, where contemporary photography identified it as the replica created for the A5 television advertisement.
The vehicle was subsequently displayed at the August Horch Museum in Zwickau. Museum documentation identifies it as a reconstruction produced by Audi United Kingdom in 2012.
More than a decade after its construction, the replica returned to prominence as part of Audi Tradition’s Windschnittig special exhibition at the Audi museum mobile in Ingolstadt. Running from November 18, 2023 through June 9, 2024, the exhibition examined the development of aerodynamic concepts in automotive engineering from their beginnings through 1945, with particular emphasis on pioneers including Paul Jaray, Edmund Rumpler and Reinhard Freiherr von Koenig-Fachsenfeld.
The Front UW Jaray formed part of the exhibition’s presentation of Jaray’s work and Audi’s early involvement with streamlined automobiles. Its presence complemented the newly created full-size model of the 1923 Audi Type C Jaray, allowing the exhibition to represent two distinct stages in Jaray’s aerodynamic work with Audi-related chassis.
This later museum role gives the 2012 reconstruction a history distinct from the automobile it represents. Created initially to tell a contemporary Audi marketing story, it subsequently became a physical representation of a significant lost automobile from Audi’s aerodynamic history.
Its provenance and differences from surviving photographs of the original are therefore important to preserve. While the reconstruction provides a useful three-dimensional interpretation of Jaray’s Front UW, the vehicle itself belongs to Audi history beginning in 2012, not 1934.
DOCUMENTED EXHIBITION HISTORY
2012 – NEC Classic Motor Show: Birmingham, United Kingdom; displayed following its use in Audi UK’s A5 advertising campaign.
August Horch Museum: Zwickau, Germany; subsequently displayed as the 2012 Audi UK reconstruction.
2023–2024 – Windschnittig: Audi museum mobile, Ingolstadt, Germany; November 18, 2023–June 9, 2024. Audi Tradition special exhibition covering aerodynamic concepts in automotive engineering through 1945.
PHOTO GALLERY
SOURCES
Audi UK / Audi A5 – The Swan advertising campaign, 2012
Little Black Book – Audi Heritage Inspires New A5 TV Ad, April 5, 2012
BBH London – Audi A5 The Swan campaign
August Horch Museum Zwickau – Audi Front UW Jaray reconstruction documentation
Contemporary NEC Classic Motor Show photography – Birmingham, November 2012
4Legend – Audi Front Type UW Jaray de 1934, un prototype de véhicule très aérodynamique
The Classic Car Trust – 1921: Paul Jaray and his Airships on Four Wheels
Coachbuild.com – Paul Jaray historical profile
RESEARCH NOTES
- The August Horch Museum identifies the vehicle as a reconstruction produced by Audi United Kingdom in 2012.
- Contemporary November 2012 photography from the NEC Classic Motor Show describes the vehicle as a replica built for Audi’s A5 television advertising.
- Available evidence therefore associates the reconstruction primarily with Audi UK and the A5 campaign rather than establishing it as an Audi Tradition historical reconstruction project.
- The precise company or workshop responsible for physically constructing the replica has not presently been established.
- The degree, if any, of Audi Tradition involvement in researching or specifying the reconstruction has not presently been established.
- The Audi A5 The Swan commercial debuted in the UK on April 1, 2012, during ITV’s Titanic. Because the replica was created specifically for the campaign and no earlier public presentation has presently been identified, April 1 is used as the vehicle’s reveal date in Audi Archives.
- The Swan was created by BBH London and directed by Joachim Back through Park Pictures.
- Both 30- and 60-second television versions were produced, accompanied by print, digital and outdoor elements.
- The replica is finished in grey and carries the LU 3956 registration associated with the original Front UW Jaray.
- Its exterior lacks the bright side molding and prominent radiator-cap treatment visible in photographs of the original during later stages of its life.
- No period photograph presently identified shows the original Front UW in precisely the same combination of exterior details represented by the 2012 reconstruction.
- The replica should therefore not be treated as definitive documentation of a particular 1934 specification without further historical evidence.
- Contemporary descriptions of The Swan incorrectly placed the streamlined Audi in the 1920s.
- The reconstruction represents the 1934 Audi Front UW Jaray, not the separate Jaray-bodied Audi Type C/Type K of 1923.
- Confusion between the two cars is relatively common because of their shared designer, aerodynamic purpose, rarity and loss of both originals.
- Similarities between the replica’s reduced surfacing and simple rectangular grille and Audi’s later Radical Simplicity design language are visually notable, but no direct historical design connection has been established.
- Following its advertising use, the reconstruction entered the museum and historical exhibition environment and has been displayed at the August Horch Museum in Zwickau.
ARCHIVE STATUS
Vehicle Status: Extant
Construction Date: 2012
Reveal Date: April 1, 2012
Created For: Audi UK
Original Purpose: Audi A5 advertising campaign
Advertisement: The Swan
Historical Vehicle Represented: 1934 Audi Front UW Jaray
Registration Displayed: LU 3956
Current/Recent Collection: August Horch Museum, Zwickau
Constructor: Not presently established
Audi Tradition Involvement: Not presently established
Historical Accuracy: Overall design based on the original Front UW Jaray; exact historical configuration represented by its exterior detailing has not been established
Documentation Status: Contemporary advertising material, campaign documentation, photographs and subsequent museum documentation survive