While China and Europe are sprinting ahead, North America is stuck in the slow lane. Between expiring government subsidies and a general cooling of consumer enthusiasm, the EV revolution in the States is looking a bit more like a “suggested evolution”. Even the “Old Continent” is getting cold feet, with the European Union backtracking on its 2035 ban on internal combustion engine models.
Yet, Wall Street doesn’t seem to care. Tesla stocks recently hit record highs as investors traded actual sales data for the intoxicating promise of Elon Musk’s Cybercab and unsupervised robotaxi testing in Austin. While Mercedes experiments with self-driving S-Class limousines in the UAE, Audi seems to be wandering in the wilderness.
Once a fierce rival to BMW and Lexus, the Ingolstadt brand currently feels like a shadow of its former self, lacking a “halo” model to stop the metaphorical bleeding. Let’s be honest. The A8 and the e-tron GT have become somewhat “bland” in a world of Cybertrucks and autonomous pods.
Enter the digital imagination of virtual artist Brando Varela. His “Voyager” concept is a bold, hypothetical vision for an Audi flagship for the late 2020s. This isn’t your average sedan. It’s a sleek, windowless fastback that looks like it belongs in a sci-fi noir. With vertical LED daytime running lights, massive aerodynamic skirts, and crimson brake calipers hidden behind gargantuan wheels, it demands the attention Audi has been losing.
There are also rear-hinged doors that give this gran turismo a Rolls-Royce flair, signaling its intent to succeed both the e-tron GT and the A8. Perhaps most importantly, this concept embraces the industry’s newest safety net, the EREV (Extended-Range Electric Vehicle) powertrain.
Since solid-state batteries are still a distant dream, an EREV configuration, combining electric drive with a combustion generator, could make a car like the Voyager actually palatable to the range-anxious American market. It might be exactly the kind of “fantasy” solution Audi needs to stop being a shadow and start being a leader again.
