Currently reading: Radical styling for next Audi A7
New Audi design chief Marc Lichte says the firm's next A7 will be more stylish than today's car

A more radical design is promised for the next-generation Audi A7, according to man who has designed it.

Marc Lichte, who joined Audi from Volkswagen earlier this year, has already completed design work on the second-generation A7, which will be launched in 2017.

Elements of the design of the new A7 have already been previewed in the recent Prologue concept at the Los Angeles motor show, although Lichte wouldn’t give specifics.

The Prologue previews not only the new 2017 A7 but also the 2016 A8 and 2017 A6, designs for which have all been signed off. It is the A7’s design that will be the most radical of the trio, according to Lichte, and there will be much greater visual differentiation between the trio and other future Audis.

The A7 will be based on the Volkswagen Group’s Audi-engineered, second-generation MLB platform, with its engine range expected to be cherry-picked from the 2016 A8 range.

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The Audi A7 Sportback is a five-door coupé that scores on style, refinement and technological sophistication, but is it enough to ruffle the BMW's and Mercedes-Benz's feathers?

Mark Tisshaw

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Title: Editor

Mark is a journalist with more than a decade of top-level experience in the automotive industry. He first joined Autocar in 2009, having previously worked in local newspapers. He has held several roles at Autocar, including news editor, deputy editor, digital editor and his current position of editor, one he has held since 2017.

From this position he oversees all of Autocar’s content across the print magazine, autocar.co.uk website, social media, video, and podcast channels, as well as our recent launch, Autocar Business. Mark regularly interviews the very top global executives in the automotive industry, telling their stories and holding them to account, meeting them at shows and events around the world.

Mark is a Car of the Year juror, a prestigious annual award that Autocar is one of the main sponsors of. He has made media appearances on the likes of the BBC, and contributed to titles including What Car?Move Electric and Pistonheads, and has written a column for The Sun.

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erly5 23 December 2014

Audi's definition of radical.......

.....is probably somewhat different from everyone else's. So just don't expect anything 'radical' and you won't be disappointed. As others have said, it also happens to be my favourite Audi at the moment. It reminds of when the Avant name was attached to the hatch version of the Audi 100.
fadyady 23 December 2014

Audi and radical styling

Audi and radical styling in one sentence somehow sound phonetically incorrect. Wish the Audi designers good luck though in the very merry Christmas spirit and utterly hope that the new A7 lives up to the hype and mortals like myself can tell it apart from the current model without help.
Moparman 23 December 2014

Relentlessly ugly

The more I think about it the more pointless I find a large hatchback versus a proper estate. How often is someone with enough money to buy one of these going to need the slightly additional cargo capacity of a hatch with its rear seats folded? The gaping maw of the current Audi makes them look like slack-jawed incompetents told to do more than one thing at a time. The larger aperture of the hatch does no favours for structural rigidity and looks ugly on any car. If you need to carry cargo get an estate (or the jacked-up version, the SUV), if not get a saloon.
marj 23 December 2014

Moparman wrote:The more I

Moparman wrote:

The more I think about it the more pointless I find a large hatchback versus a proper estate. How often is someone with enough money to buy one of these going to need the slightly additional cargo capacity of a hatch with its rear seats folded? The gaping maw of the current Audi makes them look like slack-jawed incompetents told to do more than one thing at a time. The larger aperture of the hatch does no favours for structural rigidity and looks ugly on any car. If you need to carry cargo get an estate (or the jacked-up version, the SUV), if not get a saloon.

Actually what I want is a good old estate warehouse of a car like the 504 Estate and the CX Safari.