Audi Q4 e-tron in Milan: an ark will save us

This article is published in the 18/19 issue of Vanity Fair on newsstands until May 11, 2021

Un’arca floats on the grass of a city park. On its hull, in the late afternoon, the shadows of the numerous skyscrapers built in the Porta Nuova area, in the heart of Milan, stretch out. Inside, however, one and only one specimen is kept: the new Audi Q4 e-tron, in its first ever public appearance. The German manufacturer, in fact, has chosen Italy and the Milano Design City event to unveil its compact and zero-emission SUV.

And, in a year of virtual events, the he wanted to pay a tangible tribute, building the installation around him United for Progress, signed by the architect Mario Cucinella.

“In the last seven years we have never missed our presence at Design Week, both in terms of contribution and support”, he explains Fabrizio Longo, director of Audi Italia. «It is a parterre that allows us to put in perfect harmony what happens in Milan in propulsive terms with our idea of ​​technology, innovation and respect for the environment. This edition is also enriched by another message, which is that of encouragement ». And the brand is a spur with its own example: not only is it the only car manufacturer present at the 2021 edition, but it has brought the only installation there: “The work of the architect Mario Cucinella represents the ideal stage for Q4 e-tron. Because the criteria it applied embody precisely that stylistic avant-garde and that idea of ​​sustainable progress that make it an iconic representation of this event in a place that tells the ideal encounter between nature and architectural innovation “. A further demonstration of how sustainability and technology can grow together.

“Surely what we have done with Cucinella today wants to speak very clearly about this symbiosis” and about a system of values: innovation, performance and sustainability. «The third value axis is the much broader one concerning the mobility of the future, a social value that bounces from the product to the experience of people, to the point of redesigning urban ecosystems. Because today the car has become more than ever an enabling factor of this transformation ». Q4 e-tron wants to be the sum of this approach, because it is aimed at a much wider audience: “We are entering a significantly interesting segment in terms of potential, because today 49 percent of the market in Italy is represented by SUVs”.

Audi Q4 e-tron and the Q4 Sportback e-tron “coupé” version also represent a step forward for the company in the electrification process of its range and in the transition from manufacturer to provider of sustainable mobility services, because they are for now the only premium compact SUVs based on a platform created and developed specifically for electron mobility: «The new native electric platform allows you to revolutionize the interior spaces», explains Longo. “So we have an SUV that is basically the size of a Q3, a load capacity greater than a Q5 and an overall volume that is equal to a Q7”.

Other distinctive features include: four “on demand” digital light signatures for the headlights, multifunction touch steering wheel, navigator with augmented reality, upholstery in recycled material and a range of up to 520 kilometers, all of which can be driven on zero emissions. But the new car is sustainable even before it hits the road (the SUV version in June, the Sportback in September) because it is produced at the Zwickau site, in Germany., certified carbon neutral like the factories where the other models of the e-tron range are born. “I was struck by the coherence of a company convinced that, before the product, it is necessary to think about the process, about what happens upstream”, comments the architect Cucinella, called upon by Audi to design the stage for its première.

“A company where the industrial process is minimized from the point of view of emissions, which uses recycled materials and thinks that the materials must be used again: this is exactly what the construction world is trying to do, more slowly. The trend, however, is for all of us to move towards materials that have a low environmental impact. So there is an affinity between two worlds that are trying to change a paradigm ». Not for nothing, the place chosen for his project is the Library of the Trees: “The idea was to build a small piece of architecture inside a park to tell the story of a machine”. And thus, we arrived at the ark: «A small theater built in wood, which floats in this green: it also seemed like a good message. Then when the car goes away (to make a fine show of itself in the following days in via Monte Napoleone, ed), people can sit inside to read a book, have a chat … It can also be a place to stage a show for children or for a small theatrical activity ». In short, a space to live and share. «But above all not to be wasted: we didn’t want to create a self-referential object, but to do something for others. Because the motto is “United for Progress”, but progress must be for everyone ».

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