Audi's 'one design fits all' policy..

Its a daunting thing the first blog post, the point where one must pick a topic which is topical, edgy and interesting to kick things off well. So what will the inaugural offering from TooMuchTorque relate to??

http://www.audi.com.au/etc/medialib/ngw/au/misc_2.Par.0002.Image.jpg/audi_range_nextgen.jpg

Well the title is something of a spoiler, the status of Audi has risen over recent years to put it on a par with BMW and Mercedes among Germany's motoring hierarchy. While the brand has always been associated with decent solid cars, it used to lag behind its main competitors in terms of vision and cutting edge in the vehicles it delivered. Over the last ten or so years, more Audis have appeared on the road, the main protagonist being the A4, a family car which has slowly clawed back ground for Audi on the BMW 3 series and Mercedes C-Class. The success over the last 6/7 years culminated in 2011 being the companies most successful year to date and has coincided with a branching into previously (for Audi) uncharted territory. Audi now compete in the small hatchback sector with the A1, the large SUV sector with the Q7 and even the supercar sector with the R8. Such prowess across the board is very impressive indeed, but for me seems to have come at a cost. Now I assume resource isn't an issue for the Audi design team, yet it seems reluctant to offer anything visually different for pretty much its entire range. Aside from the body shapes most Audi's from the A1 to the A8, and the Q3 to the Q7 (presumably Audi have yet to develop the even numbers in the q-range but will get there eventually?) now look far too similar for a company with such prowess in the global market. Are they concerned that by deviating even slightly from their uni-face cars that people will no longer recognise the brand and lose precious exposure? Have they done too much with their range by producing every number from 1-8, with 3 SUVs thrown in for good measure?

As a kid my love for cars bordered on obsession, as I poured over the pages of my Car and Top Gear magazines I took in everything, stats, specifications, options the lot. I could name pretty much every car I saw. I'm not as clued up as I used to be, but I generally have a decent idea of what I'm looking at, unless its the uni-Audi (or perhaps more appropriately the udi). I'm told by those who care for such things that the L.E.D clusters are good indicators of which model you're looking at, but unless you take the time to learn and distinguish them ultimately they all look the same. So is this a sign of things to come in the automotive industry? Huge ranges of almost identical cars which perform very slightly different functions to suit the nuances of their owners. Is Audi being too ambitious with fingers in too many pies? Time will certainly tell, but lets hope it brings some more variety to Audis of the future..