Audi's new branding is proving almost as controversial as Jaguar's

It's been an interesting month in the automotive industry. By now you've probably heard about Jaguar's controversial rebrand, which has got everyone from design experts to Elon Musk talking. Indeed, Jaguargate has arguably overshadowed another notable car design story – but people are starting to notice Audi's slightly baffling branding move from earlier this month.

When it comes to iconic logos, few are more famous than those four interlocking rings. So it's somewhat surprising that the brand is ditching them for a new EV brand named, wait for it, AUDI. Yes, Audi has unveiled a new EV range in China, sporting, instead of one of the best logos ever, a new capitalised wordmark.

"Audi is setting up for the future in China," the company announced this month. "To this end, the company is launching its first new brand alongside the Audi E concept: AUDI – without the four rings logo but spelled in four capital letters."

Audi says the new branding "signals both the connection to and differentiation from the sister brand. Based in and tailored for China, brand and car represent the best of both worlds – unmistakable Audi DNA meets China innovations... breaking new ground to tap into new and more tech-savvy customer segments.”

But after a slow start, perhaps because Jaguar came along and took all those column inches, the reactions are coming in – and it seems Audi fans aren't impressed. "Honestly? This is hilarious. It's one of those things that make you believe the simulation is real and the creator is going for maximum silliness," one Redditor comments, while another adds, "Next week: Mercedes launches 'MERCEDES'."

Audi CEO Gernot Döllner says the branding change is designed to meet the different expectations of Chinese customers. "Chinese premium customers are different from their international counterparts and have different expectations: they are younger than in the rest of the world. They are more tech-savvy. They expect leading connectivity as well as automated driving."

While it makes sense that Audi is leaning into its EV partnership with SAIC in order to specifically target the Chinese market, it's strange that it would deliberately omit such an iconic logo. Indeed, even the slightest tweaks to the tried-and-tested design have caused controversy in recent years, from the brand's misjudged 'socially distanced' logo to the flattening of the rings, have proven, fans are particularly previous about the Audi logo. Surely getting rid of it, even for a specific range, is going to cause even more furore?

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