Subtractive analysis applied to the Audio Quattro concept

The Audi Quattro concept vehicle is a revision of the original Quattro. It demonstrates that it is easy to design a vehicle that ‘starts well’ (in the sense that one’s gaze travels along its profile from nose to tail). The ruler-straight beltline, tapered waist and emphatic C-pillar are all completely persuasive.













But the body of the 2010 Quattro concept is even more noticeably truncated than the widely admired Audi A5 coupe, which also has its difficulties in finishing.

Subtractive analysis is a powerful design tool. A subtractive analysis selectively removes portions of a scenario in order to envision these portions as either absent or replaced by improvements. In visual designs, for example, graphical elements may be removed or truncated from the layout to effect a subtractive analysis. The profile of the 2010 Quattro concept can be analysed subtractively by cropping unresolved portions of the profile.










The curious power of the subtractive analysis is its ability to suggest how improvements by addition might be made, as though the subtracted part was actually replaced by the improved part, but concealed behind a curtain.








It is now easy to envision the extension of the Quattro’s rear to a length indicated by the red line in the picture below, in order to perfect the design. If the 2010 Quattro was resolved so as to finish as well as it started, the result would be a coupe body without equal on today’s roads.

The vulgarisation of design language at Mercedes Benz

The refined bodywork of the 1996–2002 Mercedes-Benz CLK coupe is a stark reminder of the extent to which the marque’s design language has become vulgarised in recent years.