Meet The Audi ZERØ Pipe Dream, A Vintage-Inspired Micro-EV Best Left In The Past

Concept cars come in all shapes, sizes, and intent. More often than not, these take the form of crazy flying cars (that we hope will enter production soon), but sometimes someone dreams up a vehicle so mind-melting (in a good way) it makes the car Homer designed in "The Simpsons" look sane. And while most are created by automakers to showcase future production ideas, some are purely design exercises performed by individuals. In the case of this funky, little Audi ZERØ EV, the latter is, fortunately, the reality. Dreamed up by Wini Camacho, who designed the Mercedes-Benz X-Class truck, the ZERØ is not actually affiliated with Audi and has zero chance of becoming a production design.

Revealed in CGI video models, Camacho's unofficial concept car, much like the Nothing Phone, is minimalism personified. According to Camacho's specs, the ZERØ is tiny at only 3.1 meters (10.17 feet) long and 1.85 meters (6.07 feet) wide, and he imagined the electric vehicle in both CØupé and the RØadster forms. If you squint, the CØupé almost looks like a silver Zaku head from the "Gundam" franchise, but its tubular shape and silver hue are seemingly inspired by vintage Audi racing cars from the 1930s. 

As an unaffiliated concept vehicle, there's no chance Audi will ever bring this car to life, but that being said, this design exercise could spark a car of the future. For instance, there's a good chance that many people who developed self-driving cars were inspired by KITT from "Knight Rider." When Camacho designed the ZERØ CØupé and the RØadster, he was obviously inspired by the idea of minimalism.

Moreover, the ZERØ concepts seemingly echo Camacho's previous concept car, the BMW Z/Z (another unofficial CGI model). This particular design is noteworthy because it is an open-top roadster that is split down the middle and kind of looks like a frog's head when viewed from the rear. And it shares the same silver sheen and simplified silhouette that borders on reductive as the ZERØ CØupé and the RØadster. Camacho's design philosophy extends to the ZERØ's interior, which revolves around a central steering wheel, an analog instrument cluster, and integrated physical controls — everything is gathered into a single component. Could such a novel control scheme prove viable? Don't hold your breath.