Seven years into his tenure as Audi design chief, Marc Lichte is rising to the challenge of bringing the firm into the age of electric propulsion and autonomous technology. James Attwood hears how he’s doing it

Designing radical Audi cars is nothing new for Marc Lichte. He has been doing it for most of his life. “I used to sketch designs when I was a young boy,” he says. “I was always dreaming of becoming a car designer – and, really, an Audi designer.”

That said, the transition from doodling while growingupinthe West German town of Arnsberg to actually designing Audis took a little longer than Lichte had envisaged.

He recalls: “When I was studying design [at the Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences], I received sponsorship from Audi. Hartmut Warkuß got me a contract, but by the time Ihad finished my studies, he had moved with Mr [Ferdinand] Piëch to Wolfsburg to become head of Volkswagen design.

“I said: ‘Mr Warkuß, I want to start in Ingolstadt.’ But he told me that for two or three years Ihad to follow him in Wolfsburg and then I could go to Ingolstadt. It took me 17 years in Wolfsburg, but luckily it happened in 2014. I love it. I love what I’m doing here. I love the brand, and I want to bring Audi to the next level.”

To be clear, Lichte didn’t spend 17 unhappy years trying to escape Volkswagen: he hadavery successful career there, eventually rising to exterior design chief. In that role, he shaped three generations of Golf (five, sixand seven), the Touareg andthe Arteon. And his circuitous route to Ingolstadt also meant that his arrival seven years ago came at a pivotal time for both Audi and the wider car industry.