At the 2025 IAA Mobility show in Munich, Audi took the spotlight with its Concept C, the two-seat electric coupe that has the industry buzzing about what’s next from the Four Rings. Positioned between the brand’s beloved TT and its halo R8, the Concept C isn’t a direct successor to either—yet it channels both while pointing Audi in a fresh new direction.
Alas, we couldn’t all be in Münich to see the car for ourselves, but several reports from there including one from Top Gear and one from Motor Trend offer more insight from those who had a chance to speak with Audi representatives there on the stand.
Speaking to Top Gear, Audi CEO Gernot Döllner made it clear this car isn’t just another pie-in-the-sky concept. “During my time at Audi, I will only present concept cars that have a decision to be produced. We have a clear production decision for this car and we are working on realising it by 2027,” he said. Döllner added that the show car is “90 per cent there” already—and fully functional. “By the way, it’s a fully-functional concept, street legal, you’ll drive it soon,” he promised.
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
For now, Audi is calling it Concept C. Some predicted the badge would read “TT” when the covers came off in Münich given the “TT Moment 2.0” descriptor Audi’s CEO had used weeks earlier, but Döllner shut that down quickly. “It sits almost precisely in the middle between TT and R8, so it’s not a successor to the TT—it will not have the TT name. We were so fast in developing the concept we didn’t have time to find a name, so called it Concept C,” he explained to Top Gear. That leaves the door wide open for something else—Döllner even teased, “To be honest it could start with an R or be a name. Sometimes it’s easier to develop a car than find a name for it.”
NEW ERA OF AUDI DESIGN
Motor Trend points out that Concept C signals far more than just one new sportscar—it’s the opening statement for a new Audi design language that will inform cars launching after 2027. The concept’s surfacing, strong haunches, and focused cabin pay homage to icons like the TT Mk1 and even the 2000 Rosemeyer concept, while pushing Audi’s design back toward its clean, innovative roots. The interior ditches screens-for-screens’ sake in favor of machined-metal switchgear and that satisfying “Audi click” longtime fans know well.
And while the production car will be fully electric, the design is flexible enough to work with combustion or hybrid powertrains across the Audi range. That’s key, since the Concept C is as much a manifesto as it is a model.
INNOVATION UNDER THE SKIN
If styling is the hook, technology is the punch. Döllner confirmed to Top Gear that Audi is experimenting with ways to make EVs more engaging, including a virtual gearbox and sound simulation: “Even on the racetrack, I’m faster with a car with a virtual gearbox. We’re developing it, I think we’ll have one. The company is quite open to finding innovative solutions in this area.” That leaves room for a new kind of digital performance character, perhaps even keeping the spirit of the RS 3’s five-cylinder alive in virtual form.
WHERE IT FITS
Motor Trend suggests the production version of the Concept C will start around $90,000–$100,000 in the U.S., sliding between the TT’s $60K range and the R8’s $160K halo-car territory. It will also share underpinnings with Porsche’s upcoming electric 718 Cayman, giving Audi enthusiasts confidence in its performance credentials.
As for a new R8? Döllner won’t rule it out but remains focused on delivering this car first: “Of course there’s room for another car, but we need to go step by step. First of all I have to focus now on our core segments and carry this new design language to series production cars.”
Here’s the takeaway for Audi aficionados: the Concept C isn’t vaporware—it’s the future. With production locked in and a debut targeted for 2027, we’re looking at a car designed not just to honor the TT and R8, but to carve its own space in Audi history.