Author:

Robin Roberts

Audiphiles must have thought they were hearing things when rumours started to surface that the legendary maker of high performance and quattro models was interested in motorbike builder Ducati.

Now we know they intend to buy  the business, but do we know the whole story? Audi’s PR machine slipped into 4×4 mode to say they wanted the bike business for its expertise in engineering and lightweight technology. So, Audi know nothing about these technologies do they? Yes, baloney.

Apart from catching up with arch rivals on two or four wheels, BMW, the Audi brand could be thinking of going a bit further, by turning back the clock. Motorbikes provide an advantage over cars with their agility, lightweight and potential higher economy but suffer from safety and sophistication shortcomings for the typical user.

So what about a sort of middle of the road solution? A motorbike and sidecar, perhaps. Forget the image of Wallace and Gromit, and pull back a bit from the elbow scraping Isle of Man TT sidecar events, and think instead of a 1, 2 or 3 seater mode of transport suitably protected from the occasional rain shower we get in Britain or Northern Europe and you have the beginnings of an idea to overcome congestion and high emissions.

Now we have sent the Audi designers rushing for their electronic sketchpads lets keep them occupied for a few hours. Oh and bring in the powertrain guys and girls as well. If we have a suitably designed trike, why dont we drive both back wheels? A 2×3 system would give added traction and stability without the sidecar jockey having to jump up and down like a demented trialist when the white stuff falls. The German military had some 2×3 models about 70 years ago, but we don’t talk about that.

Instead, we can talk about a fast forward to 2015 and we see the sidecar passenger ousted and external battery pack inserted to drive the electric motor which now powers the Audi e-Combo through city streets.

Even if you think a wheel has fallen off the Audi bandwagon, surely its a case of vorsprung durch trikenik? And remember you saw it here first on Business Car Manager.