During the lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, four British companies worked on an all-electric, roofless, two-seat sports car with the goal of showing what the future of performance cars could look like. Designed following a natural style, with sculptural surfaces and a purity in design, the Aura concept car uses natural fiber composite materials, clean electric power and has a distinctly modern look.
The car’s design was created by Astheimer Design, a British studio specializing in providing mobility solutions for a sustainable future. The desire of the style center was to achieve a pure, simple, iconic design with sculpted volumes to achieve a low coefficient of air resistance. The goal was achieved thanks to the provision of some stylistic and functional elements that maximized the efficiency of the vehicle: from the rear wheel covers, to the completely closed grilles to the wide rear diffuser. Features that lead to the Aura using less energy, increasing its true range.
“The teardrop design theme is defined by the two key lines that run the length of the vehicle, wrapping around the cabin. The design language is a sculptural purity with “tech” details. The front of the vehicle has fuller volumes combined with a low nose and air curtains that encourage airflow with minimal disturbance, reducing the frontal area and high pressure zone at the front of the car,” says Tom Strong, senior designer at Astheimer Design.
The interior and single double-bench seat envelop the driver and passenger making them feel part of the vehicle and enhancing the driving experience. “Throughout the program, we adopted an all-digital design and development process. Using VR visualization tools, and milling the design intent to ¼ scale, allowed us to revise and refine the design down to the final A-surfaces and design freeze,” continues Tom Strong. The Aura is powered by an all-electric, rear-wheel drive powertrain and is capable of achieving a range of approximately 400 miles thanks to two 44 kWh batteries (88 kWh total).
