Too Haute to Handle?
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- Audi wants you to believe that its A3 is more than just a car
By Sheldon Trollope
MULTI-TASKING IS the new black. These days, doing just one thing well doesn’t seem to be good enough anymore. The most popular mobile phones for example, will now take photographs, shoot video, check your e-mail and do everything but wash your dishes, although I could be wrong about the last point.
New homes now are also marketed for their ability to be converted into small offices, the so-called SOHO – Small Office Home Office – phenomenon. And who amongst us performs only one function at work anymore? In motoring journalism at least, it is a rarity for editors to only edit, writers to just write and for photographers to only photograph. Instead, hacks are often called upon to wear all three hats.
With the A3, Audi wants you to believe that its latest hatchback is much more than just a car. In the promotional material, the A3 Sportback, as the five-door variant is called, is likened to supposedly forward-thinking products such as the Nokia N-Gage, the phone that thinks it’s a portable gaming device and the Loftcube, the hi-tech dwelling shown in the main picture.
With a liveable space of about 45 square metres, this portable home and workplace can be transported via crane or helicopter to any location. It may offer panoramic views out, but we’re not sure if many will take to living and working in something that’s approximately half the size of the average HDB flat.
Similarly, is the A3 the ultimate lifestyle product or is it an answer to a question nobody asked in the first place?
