Just as the nascent Audi A5 was about to be signed off, Walter de\u2019 Silva asked the management for a little more time. Not much more, just another month, but decisive in getting the design right. \u201cThe car was virtually the same as it is now\u201d, he explains today, describing the evolution of the project, \u201cbut to my eyes and touch, it didn\u2019t express the kind of elegance I was looking for. It didn\u2019t feel completely finished to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
De\u2019 Silva can thank design director for the entire Volkswagen group Martin Winterkorn for giving him that precious extra time and Audi\u2019s executives for cooperating by delaying the launch of the car. \u201cThis has been a significant experience for me, because I believe that design is not just about creativity and intuition but also finessing. Every object must be honed and perfected up until the last possible moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
De\u2019 Silva and his team had a precise goal for their work \u2013 a return to formal purity. In recent years, there has been a tendency to over-design in the international scenario, often producing a strained originality with exaggerated lines and a contrived aggressiveness. In short, little more than a shouting match. \u201cIn the true GT cars of the past, on the other hand, you just see elegance and balance. This was the spirit of the magnificent Italian GTs of the 1950s and 1960s\u201d, says de\u2019 Silva. \u201cWe decided to go against this trend, which is followed by those who only listen to what marketing says, and worked rather on Audi values – sportiness, elegance and great quality.<\/p>\n
The article continues in Auto & Design no. 165<\/strong><\/small><\/p>\n<\/div>[images picture_size=”fixed” hover_type=”none” autoplay=”no” columns=”5″ column_spacing=”13″ scroll_items=”” show_nav=”yes” mouse_scroll=”no” border=”yes” lightbox=”yes” class=”” id=””][image link=”” linktarget=”_self” image=”http:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/2208200701_Audi_A5-300×167.jpg” alt=””][image link=”” linktarget=”_self” image=”http:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/2208200702_Audi_A5-300×167.jpg” alt=””][image link=”” linktarget=”_self” image=”http:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/2208200703_Audi_A5-300×181.jpg” alt=””][\/images]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [images picture_size=”fixed” hover_type=”none” autoplay=”no” columns=”5″ column_spacing=”13″ scroll_items=”” show_nav=”yes” mouse_scroll=”no” border=”yes” lightbox=”yes” class=”” id=””][image link=”” linktarget=”_self” image=”http:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/2208200701_Audi_A5-300×167.jpg” alt=””][image link=”” linktarget=”_self” image=”http:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/2208200702_Audi_A5-300×167.jpg” alt=””][image link=”” linktarget=”_self” image=”http:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/2208200703_Audi_A5-300×181.jpg” alt=””][\/images]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4567","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-design-story-en"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-30 17:05:32","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4567\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/autodesignmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}