Sedans with coupe-like silhouettes are ubiquitous these days. But Audi’s Sportback Concept, unveiled yesterday at the Detroit Auto Show, is different.

Setting itself apart from all of the other four-door rides that feature curvy rooflines, more aggressive styling and lots of luxury trappings, such as the Mercedes-Benz CLS and Volkswagen CC, the Sportback features a very user-friendly hatchback instead of a trunk —   hence the car’s name.

It’s easy to see that Audi is following a minimalistic design aesthetic with this vehicle, as the automaker has dialed back on the frills and the hard edges that are so often found on its competitors’ vehicles, going instead for a more rounded, curvy look. Stefan Sielaf, Audi board member in charge of design, says the company’s approach is to simplify things so that people will focus on the overall shape of its cars, not the flashy design tricks.

In that regard, Audi designers made an effort to reduce the number of lines on the Sportback. For instance, a line along the car’s midsection, or “shoulder,” starts behind the front wheel and stretches unbroken all the way back to the rear of the car.

The front of the Sportback is attractive but not surprising, with a large upright grille and distinctive, winged LED headlamps. From any other direction, the Sportback looks different than any of Audi’s existing products — especially at the back, where the arcing roofline settles ever-so-gently into the bulging fenders and tail.

The four-seat interior echoes the exterior’s minimalist design. It features Audi Multi Media Interface controls on the center console, which is covered in supple, light-colored leather, with oak blockboard trim, that look nearly production-ready. The seats resemble those from the Audi S5.

A low-emission 3.0-liter, 6-cylinder turbo diesel like the one in the Q7 3.0 TDI (which is expected to go on sale in the U.S. this April), is slated to propel this luxury hatchback down the road. The TDI develops 225 horsepower and 406 lb-ft of torque. A 7-speed Tiptronic automatic transmission transfers power to all four wheels.

While Audi hasn’t formally announced whether it will build a car based on the Sportback, a spokesman said that it clearly defines a framework for what could become the much-anticipated A7.