Audi's Urban Concept Electric Car is Insanely Cool Looking

They brought it to CES and I almost asked it to marry me.

Unveiled last summer to general gadget lust, Audi has been taking their Urban Concept electric car on a tour of the trade show circuit like an aspiring beauty queen making her way to the Miss USA pageant. And why not? Urban Concept is an absolutely beautiful car, sleek, elegant, with an indiosyncratic design aesthetic that recalls everything from THX-1138 to iPods. So it was that they brought Urban Concept to CES. Pictures don't really do justice to just how gorgeous this thing is, but if they ever end up manufacturing the thing, expect buyers to replace pictures of their cats with it. 

Resembling a spacecraft with wheels more than an automobile, it boasts a lightweight, carbon-fiber frame and seats two passengers in the... cockpit(?), which is accessed via a rolling canopy (and not doors). All of which, it bears repeating, is very cool, but it's what's under the hood that counts most. It's fully electric, with a lithium-ion battery that, supposedly, has a range of around 40 miles. And yes, it's part of the E-tron family - there's 2 E-tron motors.

At risk of repeating what we already know, the Urban Concept is just that, a concept. There are no plans to mass produce it, as the point is to demonstrate what is possible when cars are designed with Audi's concepts about super lightweight cars in mind. That's kind of sad, though automobiles this cool rarely become consumer favorites anyway, and even if it did, it's would likely be incredibly expensive. (SIGH). I guess we can imagine what it's like to drive around town while using our Microsoft Couriers, and then taking a detour to watch Revenge of the Jedi.