Loyalty360

Audi used today’s social media to appeal to tomorrow’s youth in the 2009 Los Angeles Design Challenge.

This year’s challenge, “YouthMobile 2030,” asked design studios on Southern California for entries that will appeal to a generation too young to remember sitcoms with laugh tracks. Audi responded with two entries designed with input from Audi’s 400,000 or so Facebook fans.

By definition, the resulting cars were the product of design by committee, though they’re hardly middling. The eOra is an sporty — albeit spiderlike — runabout, while the eSpira is a low-slung touring coupe that hints at both the Auto Union D-Type and the awesome R8.

Facebook users provided ...