Being established around the globe shows that Audi is a global brand and working nonstop on the automotive portfolio of the future. The locations are networked with one another via the design headquarters in Ingolstadt and keep in close contact. At the same time, these three creativity forges are also competing: before their designs become reality, first they have to prevail in internal competition. Moreover, Audi Design uses its studios in China and the US as seismographs: the teams track down trends on site from the fields of mobility, art, and culture and adapt them for local and international markets.

China is Audi’s biggest single market in the world. The world s biggest sales market is thereby creating its own trends and standards. That’s why we have had our own design studio in Beijing since 2011. “The vehicle’s appearance can come across as more ambitious, more colorful, and overall more conspicuous than in Europe, for example,” Wu explains.

Buzyn is the head of Audi’s Design Studio in the heart of Malibu, not far from the boardwalk of the surf paradise and the second home for many Hollywood stars.  “The ‘American way of life’ is inconceivable without cars. In the United States, there are more licensed vehicles than there are drivers licenses,” he says smiling.

The teams from Beijing and Ingolstadt meet  regularly for virtual design meetings by using VR glasses. There, they review realistic and proportionate 3-D CAD models.