The 4 rings have just presented this impressive concept car, during the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, called Audi Skysphere Concept.
Audi Skysphere Concept – The German manufacturer unveils its future 100% electric platform through this elegant concept car with an evolving template, depending on the type of driving involved.
Concept cars at variable wheelbase, we already knew. Renault had tried it last year, under the guise of SUV Morphoz, in order to stage its future “zero emission” base. But if it used its elastic capacities to carry additional batteries, in order to improve its autonomy, the Ingolstadt roadster addresses this technological feat. through the prism of livability, with the possibility of increasing the legroom. And this for the driver as well as the passenger.
Variable geometry
In short configuration (4.94 m long), The Audi Skysphere Concept can be enjoyed with the wheel in hand when, by extending its wheelbase by 25 cm, it turns into a level 4 autonomous convertible to delegate driving to artificial intelligence, on the motorway. In addition to the greater space that it offers to the legs of its passengers, this study highlights a point of honor to prune any order likely to affect the peace of mind of its pilot by retracting the steering wheel and pedals behind the dashboard. The occupants then benefit from a stripped down environment with Art Deco accents, comfortably seated in enveloping armchairs covered with microfiber echoing the certified ecological eucalyptus wood padding the cabin, as well as synthetic leatherette.
With or without hands
A real cocoon in front of which stands all the same a huge connected touch screen, inspired by recent Mercedes achievements, and barring almost the entire cockpit on more than1.41 m wide for 18 cm high. Upon learning that the electric motor of his car delivers a power of 465 kW (632 hp), the driver will quickly resolve to take precedence over the computer to make use of the 750 Nm of torque catapulting the whole thing from 0 to 100 km / h in just 4 seconds. By the way, Skysphere will have taken care to lower the center of gravity by one centimeter to improve the agility of the chassis which uses aluminum double wishbone axles, front and rear, while the rear wheels steer.
A very distant grandmother
If Audi’s official speech tries to convince the general public that there is a relationship between her new baby and the Horch 853 (Auto Union) roadster from the end of the 1930s, winner of the Pebble Beach Concourse of Elegance in 2009, neo-retro design does not have the right of citizenship on the silhouette of this concept announcing the brand’s next stylistic directions. Like the recent facies advocated by Peugeot, the grille pattern, here represented by LEDs, extends beyond the grille cutout, under optics reduced to their simplest expression.
Tribute to heat engines
From the distant cousin Horch, Skysphere mainly takes up the impressive proportions based on a very long hood opening laterally in two parts to accommodate two golf bags, specially developed for this occasion. This is also the case with duo of travel bags held in place by straps stretched crosswise which are exposed under the window housed behind the passengers. We can see in this staging a nod to certain heat engines exposed to the eyes of all in the rear central position, under a stabilizer bar, in the purest spirit of the Audi R8.
Soon on our roads?
At the beginning of September at the Munich fair, you will discover the Audi Grandsphere limousine, second member of a trilogy of concept cars which will end in 2022 with the revelation ofUrbansphere, more urban at heart. Then we will have to wait by 2024/2025 for these promises to materialize on production models.
