Inner calm

Audi has earned an enviable for its stunning vehicle interiors, not only for their clean and elegant design coupled with ergonomic functionality and comfort, but also for their stunning execution. With the arrival of the new Q6 e-tron models, the brand is exploring a whole new interior design philosophy and approach to go with the game-changing technology and the all-new Premium Platform Electric (PPE) that forms the basis of the vehicle.

For designers Ramon Bäurle and Mattijs van Tuijl this was an exciting ‘blank canvas’ in many ways, but also with the pressure to maintain the brand’s high standing and reputation for excellence in this area.

“Everything says ‘interior as a living space’, you instantly feel welcome and in good hands,” says Mattijs van Tuijl, Creative Coordinator Interior.

“This is Human Centricity, a design that is tailored to the occupants like never before. Now we are bringing to series production what we showed as inspiration in the Audi grandsphere concept, a new living space inside the car.” 

This is possible because the new Premium Platform Electric (PPE), on which the Audi Q6 e-tron is designed, enables more space in the interior. The windscreen is far forward, the floor inside is flat for easy entry and exit, the airy centre console at the front has many user-friendly storage compartments and the rear row of seats offers plenty of space.

“This new space calls for a new kind of architecture, how we functionally structure and organise the design of everything that surrounds us in the interior,” says In Designer Ramon Bäurle.

“Four core ideas determined the new interior design – Human Centric, Digital Stage, Visual Clarity, Material Driven. These four values stand for Audi’s new interior design philosophy. The new interior design is brought to series production for the first time in the Audi Q6 e-tron, but it will also be seen in later models.”

In the Digital Stage, the Audi designers have summarised all the new technical content in the Audi Q6 e-tron. The large, curved display constitutes the centrepiece of the Digital Stage. It combines the Audi virtual cockpit with the MMI touch display in a panoramic display. 

The display with its curved shape is explicitly oriented towards the driver, but of course passengers also have the opportunity to look at it. However, a separate display has been created for them in the new interior, on which they can view their own content – independently of the content shown on the curved display. Passengers can select their content individually, have the same apps available as the driver and can configure and move them freely for their display.

One special feature is the Active Privacy Mode with shutter technology. This allows occupants in the front passenger seat to watch films undisturbed on the road without distracting the driver. 

From their perspective, the view is restricted by means of a technical layer. Only when the vehicle is stationary is the view of the right-hand display technically unobstructed for those sitting on the left (all of which will be reversed for Australian cars obviously). This mode also allows passengers to support the driver from their command centre with digital functions, such as navigation. For example, passengers can select display content such as a restaurant and transfer it to the large, curved display for the driver.

Other digital elements in the Audi Q6 e-tron: the Smart Door Panel on the left-hand door, which combines and clearly locates many elements that are not operated so frequently or are automated anyway, such as the headlight control, seat memory, central locking or mirror settings. And the augmented reality head-up display on the driver’s visual axis, the image plane of which is tilted forward, giving the impression that the information displayed is floating directly in the vehicle’s environment. The Digital Stage is rounded off with the interaction light, which spans the interior and cockpit in a generous arc across the entire windscreen.

It is not only a creative embrace, but also enriches the driving experience with light communication such as the welcome scenario, the visualisation of the dynamic indicator light or the charge level indicator.

A clear, expansive horizontal design element, the so-called soft wrap, extends from one door across the dashboard and flows into the opposite door. As a continuous element, this elongated architecture calms the interior, creates a horizon in the interior design, surrounds the occupants with a sense of well-being, expresses comfort and at the same time appears spacious and very three-dimensional.

“As designers we can bring certain features to the fore and tidy up others in the background. This also ensures that not everything visually jumps out at you when you get into the car. We deliberately play with three-dimensionality to increase the sense of well-being in the interior.”
For example, the dashboard is not a large, flat surface, but slim and wide with different levels. Spans give it strength, intelligently created light and shadow zones of the soft wrap emphasise the slim impression and open up the width of the room. Air vents are hidden in the shadows, very far forward in the control panel. This also breaks up the overall dimension and avoids a massive impression. Deliberately placed lighting emphasises the long lines in the interior, visually connects all elements and also brings a great deal of calm and clarity to the interior. The material of the interior and its structure are emphasised by targeted incidence of light or ambient lighting.

“When we developed the new interior design philosophy, it was particularly important to us to focus even more strongly on the materials. For us, the Audi Q6 e-tron is not just about celebrating digitisation, but also about emphasising cosiness and comfort while achieving visual clarity through materials,” says Ramon Bäurle. 

Materials are staged, with those that are close to the people in the vehicle are soft, with a flattering feel. All elements that you operate are black, elegant, with technical-looking glossy surfaces. This also helps to create this very clear and three-dimensional architecture of the interior. The prominent materials in the vehicle with the all-round soft wrap also open up a wide range of customisation options for customers. Light fabrics or dark, various woods, fine nappa leather, brushed aluminium, open-pored carbon, the Elastic Melange fabric made from 100 per cent recycled polyester or the Dinamica microfibre, also a recycled material – the combination options are more diverse than ever before to create a completely individual character for the interior of the new Audi Q6 e-tron.