Marc Lichte - Biography

Marc Lichte was born in 1969 in Arnsberg, in the Sauerland. He started his career with Volkswagen AG in 1996 while still studying Transportation Design at the Pforzheim University of Applied Science. He was promoted there to Head of the Exterior Design Studio and worked on production models including the VW Golf (generations 5, 6 and 7), the VW Passat (generations 6, 7 and), the VW Touareg (generations 2 and 3) and the VW Arteon.

Marc Lichte has been Head of Audi Design since February 1, 2014. In this position, he is responsible for Exterior and Interior Design, Color and Trim, User Interface and User Experience Design (UI/UX Design), as well as the designs of racing cars. With show cars like the Audi prologue concept car (November 2014) and the Audi Q8 concept (January 2017), he offered an accurate preview of the new design language at an early stage of the brand with the four rings.

The Head of Audi Design has consistently fulfilled this promise as of today. The new generations from the Audi A1 to the Audi Q8 harmonize design and technology as well as form and function, thus shaping the face of the brand. Be it modern classics such as the luxury sedan Audi A8 or sportily elegant vehicles like the RS 6 and RS Q8 – they all carry the signature touch of a man who already knew he wanted to later become a designer at the brand with the four rings when the Audi Sport quattro came out back in 1983.

With the Audi e-tron GT, the premium brand presented a fully electric Gran Turismo in February 2021 as a symbol of the next level of design language – for Marc Lichte, "the most beautiful car that I have ever designed." In 2022, the Audi Q8 e-tron carried on the success story of the pioneer Audi e-tron under a new name.

Currently, with the quartet of sphere concept vehicles consisting of the Audi skysphere roadster (August 2021), the Audi grandsphere sedan (September 2021), the Audi urbansphere space concept (April 2022) and the Audi activesphere four-door crossover coupé (January 2023), Lichte is demonstrating the major role Audi Design plays in shaping the technological transformation of the company, before the company started the biggest model initiative in its history 2024 with vehicles designed by Lichte.

Audi Design has received numerous international accolades for its progressive and simultaneously timeless design language.