Audi Concept C electric sports car to enter production in 2027

Audi CEO Gernot Dollner has confirmed the radical Concept C sports car will be in production by late 2027 and will sit between the discontinued TT and R8 in Audi’s lineup. The model is set to demonstrate the brand’s pivot to faster development processes while rebooting its design language and making use of an adapted platform developed by Porsche.

Unveiled in Milan last September before appearing in a titanium-coloured cube at the 2025 IAA motor show in Munich, the Audi Concept C is the brand’s first manifestation of a new ‘radical simplicity’ design language.

Now locked in for production within the next two years, the Concept C is not only a trailblazer for Audi design, but also the four-ringed brand’s first model to use a much faster vehicle development process.

“Whenever we present a new concept, that will always be a serious product,” Dollner told carsales.

“The first proof point to our strategy is Concept C. We presented that last September, and within two years, we will have it in the market. Step-by-step, we will deliver these proof points.”

Dollner described the Concept C project as a rapid three-year development program from initial idea to the scheduled start of production.

It’s a remarkably aggressive cadence for a European manufacturer, made possible by project management learnings from Audi’s Chinese partner, SAIC.

“To deliver in that time, you need some sort of a platform to build on,” he said.

“That is also true in China. They develop a platform, and then they are able to deliver a car on that platform below two years. That is also doable in Europe.”

The production version of the Concept C will share an adapted version of the Volkswagen Group’s Premium Platform Electric (PPE) architecture, called PPE Sport, with Porsche’s planned electric 718 Boxster and Cayman twins.

Despite public debate being aired about the commercial timing and viability of the 718 EV models, Dollner recently told staff via am internal letter “the delivery of the platform by Porsche is not in doubt” and that the C-Sport project is proceeding “in good collaboration between Team Porsche and Team Audi”.

It would appear that Audi is past the point of no return and that the Concept C is coming to a showroom near you, though it’s too soon to speculate on whether an Australian launch will occur. That will likely depend on the health of the EV market locally closer to 2028.

Dimensionally, the rear-drive concept measured 4520mm long (on a 2568mm wheelbase), 1970mm wide and just 1285mm high, with a quoted weight of 1690kg. That’s a figure Audi is particularly proud of.

British motoring publication Autocar reported in December that project lead Porsche was reworking the architecture used by its upcoming 718 twins for the option of petrol power. The only known prototype of the Audi version of the platform is electric.

Audi is set to position the production version between the discontinued TT (which was most recently priced from $84,000) and the R8 supercar that retailed for much closer to $300,000.

The Concept C’s packaging is described by Audi as a ‘mid-energy’ layout, with battery mass concentrated behind the two seats and possibly also along the central spine of the vehicle, rather than using a conventional flat skateboard shape.

That adaptation has allowed the seats to be located much lower than in a conventional EV while also making for, according to Audi, better driving dynamics.

Design-wise, the model debuts a vertical front frame inspired by the Auto Union Type C race car of the 1930s, while the concept’s titanium colour and clean surfacing vernacular evokes similar Bauhaus cues to the original TT that debuted in 1998.

Like a Polestar 4, there is no rear window, with a digital camera doing aft-vision duty in the concept. That may not reach production, but the slatted rear deck is expected to feature on the eventual production car.

Inside, the roadster features what Audi calls a ‘shy tech’ concept with tactile controls, a return to higher-quality materials, and a foldable 10.4-inch central display that can be hidden away at the touch of a button.

The backdrop to the Concept C project is Audi’s brand-wide transformation under Dollner, who has thinned out management levels and restructured vehicle programs into tightly-run “project houses” aimed at reducing committee-driven delays and improving early phase alignment between design, engineering and validation.

If Audi meets its late-2027 production target, European deliveries of the production version of the car would be likely to commence shortly after.

The usual lag time between the European market launch and arrival in Australia would mean that any local launch, if approved, would likely fall into 2028 if everything remains on track in the car’s development process.

Whether the Concept C faces a real chance of commercial success in the market may become clearer over the next 18 months as regulations on combustion sports cars start to bite harder globally.

For Audi, however, the Concept C project is acting as an essential testbed for the brand’s new integrated vehicle development process. That is likely why Audi has committed so strongly to launching the vehicle, as it wishes to see this trial through to production.

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