The Audi Rosemeyer is a

concept car A concept car (also known as a concept vehicle or show vehicle) is a car made to showcase new styling or new technology. Concept cars are often exhibited at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or may not ...

built by

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. The origins of the compa ...

, shown initially at

Autostadt The () is a visitor attraction adjacent to the Volkswagen factory in Wolfsburg, Germany, with a prime focus on automobiles. The complex was designed by Henn GmbH. It features a museum, feature pavilions for the principal automobile brands in ...

and at various auto shows throughout

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during 2000. It featured a polished aluminum body inspired by 1930s

Auto Union Auto Union AG was an amalgamation of four German automobile manufacturers, founded in 1932 and established in 1936 in Chemnitz, Saxony. It is the immediate predecessor of Audi as it is known today. As well as acting as an umbrella firm for ...

racecars, and a mid mounted WR16 engine that would later be used in the

Bugatti Veyron The Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4 is a mid-engine sports car designed and developed in Germany by the Volkswagen Group and Bugatti, and manufactured in Molsheim, France by French automobile manufacturer Bugatti. It was named after the racing driver Pi ...

Information

The Rosemeyer combined elements of modern design with styling strongly resembling the former

Silver Arrows Silver Arrows () is a nickname typically given to silver racing cars with a significant connection to a German car manufacturer. Although the term was coined in 1932, it came into popular usage regarding Germany's dominant Mercedes-Benz and ...

" Grand Prix racers, namely their 16-cylinder car driven by Bernd Rosemeyer, after which the car is named. The concept is also highly reminiscent of the "Type 52" design study penned by Dr. Ferdinand Porsche and Dr. Erwin Komenda in the 1930s as a possible road going version of the Silver Arrows, which never saw production. The Rosemeyer was powered by a naturally aspirated 8.0L mid-mounted WR16 engine developing , and featured Audi's quattro permanent

four-wheel drive A four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, is a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case pr ...

system. The engine had previously been used in the Bentley Hunaudières concept, introduced a year earlier. The Rosemeyer was ultimately deemed unfit for production, both because of extremely high projected production costs, and Audi's unwillingness to create in-house competition with

Lamborghini Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. ( , ), usually referred to as Lamborghini or colloquially Lambo, is an Italian manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant'Agata Bolognese. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its su ...

, which Audi had purchased during the 1990s. In some ways, Audi's Gallardo-based R8 could be considered the Rosemeyer's successor, as it was derived from Audi's next

supercar A supercar, also known as an exotic car, is a street-legal sports car with race track-like power, speed, and handling, plus a certain subjective ''cachet'' linked to pedigree and/or exclusivity. The term 'supercar' is frequently used for th ...

concept, the Le Mans quattro. In other ways, the

could be seen as the Rosemeyer's successor, drawing some design elements and the WR16 engine from the Rosemeyer. The top speed was estimated to be , though it couldn't be tested as the car wasn't functional.

Images

File:Audi Rosemeyer 3.jpg File:Audi Rosemeyer 1.jpg

References

External links

Audi.com
Rosemeyer Sports cars 2000s cars Coupés Rear mid-engine, all-wheel-drive vehicles Retro-style automobiles {{Modern-auto-stub