What: Audi A0 Coupé
Model Family: 50 (A01, type 86)
Debuted: N/A
Year: 1973 , 1974, 1975
Registration Plate: IN:EA 830
Status: unknown
Number Produced: 1
Model / Generation Code(s): type 86
Chassis / Matrix: A01
Engine: unknown
Transmission: unknown
Drivetrain: unknown
Power: unknown
Peak Torque: unknown
Weight: unknown
Acceleration (0-100 km / 62 mph: unknown
Length: unknown
Body style: 2-Door Coupé
Exterior Paint Color: Silver
Wheels: Period Production Wheels 4×100 with center caps
RELATED
Concept Cars: 1973 Audi Asso di Picche
Road Cars: 1974-1978 Audi 50 (A01, type 86)
Race Cars:
SUMMARY
The Audi A0 Coupé was a mid-1970s compact coupé design study developed internally by Audi between 1973 and 1975. Conceived as a potential sporty derivative of the A0 front-wheel-drive platform shared with the Audi 50 and Volkswagen Polo (Mk1), the project advanced beyond the sketch and model stages to at least one full-scale prototype. Despite this, the A0 Coupé was never approved for production, and the whereabouts of the prototype remain unknown.
The design study is notable for its strong visual and thematic resemblance to the 1973 Audi Asso di Picche, a concept car created for Audi by Italdesign under the direction of Giorgetto Giugiaro. Period documentation and surviving photographs suggest the A0 Coupé represented an internal attempt to reinterpret the Asso di Picche’s wedge-shaped design language into a production-feasible small Audi coupé. However, while the A0 Coupé was envisioned for the architecture of the planned Audi 50 with its smaller size and transverse engine orientation, the Asso di Picche had been constructed from the larger Audi 80 (type 80, B1) with longitudinally configured engine.
BACKGROUND
In the early 1970s, Audi’s design department was undergoing significant internal change following the aquisition of Auto Union and NSU by the Volkswagen Group. Two parallel design teams operated within Audi: one led by Hartmut Warkuss, and the other by Claus Luthe, the former head of NSU design. Oversight of these teams fell under Audi technical director Ludwig Kraus, who balanced responsibilities between them.
In early 1973, as development of the Audi 50 (internal platform designation A0) was nearing completion, Luthe proposed extending the architecture into a compact coupé. Management approved exploratory work on the idea, and development began within Luthe’s Team B.
DEVELOPMENT & DESIGN
The project, internally referred to as A0 Coupé, was developed over nearly two years by a small team including designers Pavel Hušek, Jupp Dienst, and Volkswagen Group modeler Ralf Lange. Early proposals reportedly included multiple body styles, among them a shooting-brake-style “Combi/Coupé” concept that later informed the design of the 1981 Volkswagen Polo 86C “breadvan.”
Ultimately, Luthe directed the team toward a more overtly sporting coupé inspired by the Asso di Picche concept, which had been presented in 1973 as a design exercise rather than a confirmed production proposal. The resulting A0 Coupé featured a sharply wedged profile consistent with emerging mid-1970s design trends and departed significantly from Audi’s contemporary production styling.
Photographs from the period show the A0 Coupé as a full-scale prototype, confirming that the project progressed beyond clay modeling. The prototype is seen both in an evaluation studio and in an outdoor factory setting alongside other Volkswagen and Audi design evaluation prototypes. In that outside image image, Claus Luthe appears standing near the vehicle.
DESIGN FEATURES
Although no complete technical specification has survived, several visual elements of the A0 Coupé are documented through period photography:
- A low, wedge-shaped silhouette with pronounced horizontal emphasis
- A full-width black front grille uninterrupted by visible headlamps or Audi rings.
- Apparent pop-up headlights, an unusual feature for Audi at the time
- Audi four ring logo badge mounted on the hood much like styling we’d see in the 2000s introduced on the Audi R8 (Mk1)
- Gold-finished alloy wheels similar in appearance to those used on the Audi 80 GTE, Audi Fox GTI and Volkswagen Scirocco Mk1
- Compact proportions consistent with the A0 front-wheel-drive platform
The prototype carried an EA-series license plate reading “EA 830,” indicating its status as an experimental vehicle and likely aligning it with Volkswagen Group internal project coding conventions.
PLATFORM & POSITIONING
The A0 Coupé was based on the A0 platform shared with the Audi 50 and Volkswagen Polo, making it Audi’s smallest proposed coupé at the time. Internally, the study explored whether Audi could extend its entry-level front-wheel-drive architecture into a more image-focused, design-led product.
However, the A0 Coupé would have occupied a market space closely aligned with the Volkswagen Scirocco, raising concerns about internal competition within the Volkswagen Group. This overlap is widely regarded as a key factor in the project’s cancellation.
CANCELLATION
Development of the A0 Coupé was discontinued in 1975. Contemporary and retrospective sources suggest multiple contributing factors, including development cost concerns, shifting market strategy, leadership changes within Volkswagen Group management, and the risk of cannibalization with the Scirocco.
By the mid-1970s, Audi leadership—under increasing influence from Ferdinand Piëch—was repositioning the brand toward a more premium market segment. This strategic shift ultimately led to the discontinuation of the Audi 50 and the decision to develop a larger, more upscale coupé based on the Audi 80 B2 platform.
LEGACY
Although never produced, the Audi A0 Coupé represents a significant early exploration of Audi’s future design direction. Its wedge-shaped form anticipated styling themes that would later emerge more fully in late-1970s and early-1980s Audi models.
In 1976, Audi initiated development of a new coupé project under the internal code EA 459, based on the Audi 80 B2 platform. This program resulted in the Audi Coupé, Coupé GT, and ultimately the original quattro—vehicles that successfully positioned Audi above Volkswagen’s sporty offerings and rendered the smaller A0 Coupé concept strategically unnecessary.
The A0 Coupé remains one of Audi’s more obscure post-war design studies, with no confirmed surviving prototype publicly documented.
Images you see here are created with the help of period images and AI image-generation tools. Real images can be seen on the Car Design Archives.
REFERENCES
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