Audi has given the first glimpse of its next generation design language with the unveiling of the Skysphere concept, which hints at a future electric roadster.
The new machine, revealed at the Monterey Car Week in Pebble Beach, California, is the first of three ‘sphere’ EV concepts that the German manufacturer will present over the coming months.
The Grandsphere, which previews the forthcoming ‘Landjet’ A8 successor, will be shown at September’s Munich motor show and the Urbansphere will come in 2022. The Skysphere is an electric two-door convertible that was developed around the principles of Level 4 autonomy, which means the car can drive unaided on roads equipped with the necessary infrastructure.
Gael Buzyn, the head of Audi’s Malibu design studio, led the work on the concept. He said it was designed to offer a “redefinition of grand touring”. The concept has a variable wheelbase, which works by extending the bodywork ahead of the A-pillar to offer two different driving experiences: one as an autonomous luxury grand tourer, the other a more focused sports car.
Exterior design and styling
The Skysphere is designed as a pure-electric vehicle but maintains an extended front bonnet reminiscent of traditional grand touring machines. Buzyn said this was to add a “classic sense of prestige”. He added: “An electric powertrain gives us a lot of freedom, so we can do a lot of [different] things, but that wasn’t the exercise here.”
The development of the concept was led by Audi’s design studio in California, with the bulk of the design work completed in digital form.
A key inspiration for the dimensions and proportions of the Skysphere was a version of the Horch 853 roadster that was produced in the late 1930s by one of the four firms that merged to form Auto Union.
While its dimensions are retro, the Skysphere’s design is forward-looking and serves to closely preview the next-generation of Audi’s ‘progressive luxury’ design language. It retains Audi’s single-frame grille. Instead of providing cooling air to an engine radiator, however, the surface of the grille is made from white LEDs that can display moving light sequences, including functional systems such as indicators. Another LED panel runs the width of the car’s rear.
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It certainly looks different! Nothing wrong with that per se; I could even visualise Cruella de Vil driving it, or Grace Kelly...
One thing totally baffles me: "... in sport driving mode, the wheelbase is shortened...' Does that mean that selecting that mode, the car actually shrink? Now that IS SOME trick!
Also, what are 'retro deimensions'? Someone is getting carried away here with 'designer jargon'...
It will be interesting to read explanations from the Editing Team.
The Skysphere is 5190mm long in its extended form, sits on large, 23in wheels... In Sport driving mode, the wheelbase is shortened to 4940mm...
Being an elderly person I just cannot get the math of these dimensions. Time for me to turn away from newspeak about these brave new world creatures and stick to cars from the past millenium that I sort of understand, I guess.
It takes desig elements from other great designs and turns them into an ilproportioned mess, front from mazda concept rear from mercedes. The interior is a jagged mess which is a current theme of vw group cars . The self driving modes might be difficult for audi soft ware writers to come up with driving styles that fit with the way they are currently driven , late overtaking mode, slip road cut up mode and park over two spaces mode.