Italian Massimo Frascella, who formerly worked at JLR, will try to lead the Audi brand out of the design impasse into which it came under the leadership of the German Mark Lichte.
If BMW and Mercedes-Benz have done quite a lot with design over the past ten years, showing that they are not afraid of experiments, then Audi seems to have frozen in development — at least in part exterior: all evolutions have been reduced to more complex detailing, which does not change the overall perception of the form. In turn, Audi salons have become victims of the general Volkswagen invasion of tablets and sensors, which do not work very quickly, but quickly become outdated and break down — it is not surprising that in the latest J.D. reliability rating. Power brand Audi took penultimate place, only Chrysler is worse.
Mark Lichte
In short, the management of the Volkswagen Group was ready for serious changes at Audi and transferred Mark Lichte, who served as head of Audi Design from 2014, to some other position within the concern. Lichte, 54, has built his entire professional career within the Volkswagen Group, where he joined in 1996, and will apparently remain there until retirement.
Massimo Frascella while working at JLR 1/3 
Massimo Frascella while working in JLR 3/3
Meanwhile, 52-year-old Italian Massimo Frascella had a much more ornate creative path: after graduating from the Institute of Applied Arts and Design in Turin, he went to work at the Bertone studio, then gained experience at Ford and Kia, and in 2011 he came to Jaguar Land Rover , where he rose to head of design for both British brands. Frascella himself worked mainly on Land Rovers and determined their modern appearance. Let us note, by the way, how much visually cleaner the interiors of Land Rovers have become over the past year; they now have downright Scandinavian minimalism.
We will see the first fruits of Massimo Frascella’s work at Audi in a couple of years at best , when the first new models created under his leadership go into production. The Audi press service quotes Frascella as saying: “The essence of my approach to design is simplicity. I like to create looks that are free from embellishment and current trends, instead relying on a timeless and sophisticated design language.” In general, it is clear that Frascella is not delighted with the current appearance of Audi; he will clean it up, simplify it and make it less opportunistic. The application is good — we'll see what happens in practice.