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The car world is a spirited theatre. Companies sneakily peer over each other's shoulders to spot new trends, or catch up with the ones they've missed out on. They sneer at the mistakes of rivals, sulk at the success of others and imitate whenever they can, says Nargess Shahmanesh-Banks.

The famous new Audi A6 grille that launched a thousand critiques

BMW cars are known for their sporting image and much of this is owing to the strength of its driver-oriented cockpits. This is why it was a shock to many in the industry to find the new 7 and 5 Series, X3 and even the muscular Z4 interior design moving away from this philosophy and adapting a more passive driving space. It seems like an odd decision to drop something so connected to the spirit of BMW.

Audi's new boss Martin Winterkorn must have shared this thought. Rumours have it that the Ingolstadt folks fell about laughing when they saw that BMW had dropped essentially one of its main features. Instead Audi went about injecting some of the love into its new and controversial A6.

The Audi interior space has to be one of the finest out there. The German carmaker notoriously doesn't cut corners when it comes to the use of materials and is immaculate with execution. Sitting inside an Audi, any Audi, even the A3, you feel just right. It's understated, not flashy, but all your senses, sight, smell, touch, probably even taste (though admittedly not tried) have been considered, nurtured and perfected.

Audi has adapted the driver-oriented interior design language that will hopefully add that extra sporting image to the brand

Responsible for the A6 interior was head of Audi interior design studio 1, Markus Auerbach. He admits that the team made a conscious effort to move the cabin architecture forward to work in harmony with the new, and arguably radical, exterior design language.

To achieve this, the first thing that had to go was the disciplined symmetrical layout of previous Audi models. Auerbach replaced this with what initially looks like a chaotic collage of surfaces, curves and angles. But once you take the driving seat, the rebellion transforms into a peaceful sculpture that sensually engulfs the driver.

"The underlying principle behind the new A6 is sportiness and athleticism," the designer explains," and this has as much to do with the cabin design as the exterior." As a result, the three dimensional exterior lines are reflected by the lines inside. Auerbach adds pragmatically: "When you look at the outside you realise that something is new. The inside has to reflect that."

The idea was to move away from the flat and strictly structured horizontal plane in front of the driver, to a more three-dimensional look. The risk attached to giving too much attention to the driver, however, is to ignore the needs and wants of the other passengers. On top of this there is the question of ergonomics, the science of making the driver and passenger relate to the machine.

"If you look at the dash angle, the degree that it tilts towards the driver is actually very slight," says Auerbach. As a result the front passenger isn't entirely exiled from the Audi experience. "Although all the controls are driver-optimised, the front passenger can still operate them easily and intuitively," he notes.

Then there was the question of achieving the right balance between sportiness and elegance. Inspiration was taken from current architectural trends as well as from new materials out there such as layered wood and milled aluminium, which, says Auerbach, give the feeling of integral strength and surface structure.

Secondly Audi's own racing heritage was used as a muse. The team observed the way in which the driver is completely encapsulated within the cockpit in a racing car, and how each and every dial is within easy reach. Even the steering wheel reflects the shape of the new Audi face.

Walter de'Silva, the Italian in charge of Audi Group design, explains that whereas Seat has to be unconventional, Lamborghini must eternally be extreme, which leaves Audi as the progressive leader of the team. The designer who gave the Alfa 147 its expressive grill, injected dynamism to Seat, has now been trusted with Audi. In fact it was while he was at Seat that he drew the first sketches for the dominant, yet impressive A6 grill.

He says that car design is a combination of ugly moves and beautiful ones. It's ultimately a science of making the driver and passenger relate to the machine. Technologically, cars are developing at tremendous speed and to keep up designers need to inject intense creativity, at the same time controlling the process to keep in par with often conservative public taste.

Audi, being the progressive marquee, has a large role to play. It has to be seen to be pushing boundaries, but at the same time be a commercial entity.

Design, the legendary modernist architecture le Corbusier once said, is intelligence made visible. The new Audi language is inching towards expressionism by taking a cautious step away from pure rationalism in design. If the Germans are ditching rationality, god only knows what will happen to the others. In the meantime the good news is that the new 1 Series has re-embraced the old BMW driver-oriented cabin design philosophy.