2015 dawn of Audi's golden age

The search for the ultimate escape machine has taken Audi down a new road.

It has created an all-wheel-drive convertible that could easily become one of the 15 new models the brand has promised to put on the road (and into the bush) by 2015.

The car, called the Cross Cabriolet quattro concept, was unveiled this week at the Los Angeles Auto Show in the US, less than a month after Audi rocked the Tokyo Show with a compact concept that will become its all-new A2 city car.

“We have a good record with our concept cars. More than two-thirds make it into production,” Audi Australia managing director Joerg Hofmann says.

The design for the Cross Cabriolet quattro is dramatic and different, just like the city slicker metroproject quattro that will become the A2, and much more youthful than other Audi concepts in the past five years.

The German brand concentrated for a long time on outrageous 350km/h dream machines as it worked towards production of its R8 supercar, creating the Le Mans and Nuvolari concepts for show work. But it is now moving in a new direction.

The Cross Cabriolet is clearly designed as a four-wheel drive and uses Audi's quattro system to put its six-cylinder turbodiesel power to the wheels, but the styling is a significant departure from earlier concepts.

The rounded two-door body rides high but has a clean sweep back from the windscreen, with no B-pillars or rollover bars, and has a folding fabric roof that can disappear in 17 seconds for an open-air view.

It is a genuine four-seater and is similar in size to the A3, with an overall length of 4.6m, but is built on the mechanical package used for the all-new A4 sedan and A5 coupe. Audi chose to unveil the bright gold concept at the LA show, which has just moved to a new November date from its traditional slot in January ahead of the blockbuster Detroit Motor Show, because the Cross Cabriolet is so obviously aimed at the California lifestyle and its cashed-up citizens.

It is no surprise that the cabin is trimmed in look-at-me white leather. The concept is loaded with technology, from Audi's latest LED headlamps to a satnav system integrated with the Google Earth mapping system with a new 3D display.

Audi says the concept has the world's cleanest diesel engine, a 3.0-litre turbodiesel that makes 176kW for a 0-100km/h of 7.2 seconds and a top of 240 km/h yet returns economy of 7.3 litres for 100km and already meets future Euro6 emission standards.

It also has continuous damping control shock absorbers, similar to the ones fitted to the giant Q7 four-wheel drive, with electric height adjustment that can raise and lower the car up to 40 millimetres, and ceramic brakes.