The Audi Skysphere concept has been revealed at this year’s Pebble Beach event as a proposal for what the brand thinks the future of luxury open-top motoring should look like. The design concept introduces a number of new design and technological innovations to the brand.
With the Audi Skysphere concept, the Ingolstadt-based manufacturer aims to show that the future of luxury is no longer about just driving. As a result, all of the car controls can be removed at the touch of a button which has allowed the designers to provide both passengers with generous packaging.
Further enhancing this is a variable wheelbase system that uses two electric motors and mechanism within the body and frame components. This allows inhabitants to adjust the car’s wheelbase by up to 250 mm and the ground clearance by 10 mm. Overall, the Audi Skysphere concept measures in at 4 940 mm when in sports mode and 5 190 mm in GT mode.
When the owner feels like piloting the Audi Skysphere concept, the steering wheel and pedals can be extracted back into the cabin. This gives the driver access to the car’s rear-mounted electric motor that sources power from an 80 kWh battery back. The result of this setup is a power output of 465 kW and 750 N.m of torque which gives the concept a claimed 0-100 km/h time of 4,0 seconds. As per the brand’s claims, the Skypshere boasts a range of 500 km on a full charge and a mass figure of 1 800 kg, 60 per cent of which sits on the rear.
Within the cabin, a key element that has been added to the dashboard is the 1 415 mm wide and 180 mm high touch monitor surface which can be used to operate the vehicle and infotainment systems. In Grand Touring mode, this can be used to display content from the Internet, video conferences, or streamed movies. Small touch panels in the doors are used to operate the air conditioning.
No clear confirmation has been provided as to whether this will ever reach production but the brand does state that a vehicle like the Audi Skysphere concept will become a platform for experiences that expand horizons beyond the mere ride in just a few years.
