Recent Audi concept vehicles point toward a renewed focus on simplicity, restraint, and interiors designed around the driver rather than digital excess.
Over the past several years, automakers have been locked in a strange competition to see who can mount the largest screen on a dashboard while eliminating as many physical buttons and knobs as possible.
Some manufacturers have taken things even further, installing massive rear-seat displays that resemble full-width televisions. Audi has not exactly resisted this trend, but that stance may now be shifting.
Massimo Frascella, Audi’s chief creative officer, is now openly challenging the assumption that more screens automatically translate into a better in-car experience.
“Big screens are not the best experience,” Frascella said in a recent interview, dismissing the trend as “technology for the sake of technology.” While plenty of drivers share that sentiment, few voices carry the influence needed to reshape product direction at a major automaker.
Frascella joined Audi in 2024 after playing a major role in shaping Land Rover products such as the Velar, Defender, and Range Rover. A quick look inside those vehicles reveals one clear pattern: enormous screens are largely absent.
That philosophy appears to be carrying over into Audi’s latest C Concept, which is expected to reach production in some form. Several official images show the concept without a central infotainment screen altogether. In versions where a display is present, the interior closely resembles the restrained layouts currently found in Land Rover and Range Rover models.yes
Frascella’s design framework revolves around four guiding principles: clear, technical, intelligent, and emotional. Importantly, he suggests that “emotional” design should not be manufactured through excess. Instead, it should arise organically from discipline, precision, and purposeful execution.
“Audi has always been at its best when it has been confident. So you have to listen to what the customer needs, then find your own way to deliver that with your brand experience, not like everyone else,” he explained.
Whether Audi can fully translate this philosophy across its production lineup remains uncertain. What is evident, however, is a willingness to break from prevailing trends and attempt to define what comes next, rather than continuing down a path that has already become overly familiar.
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