A slew of next generation of Audi electric vehicles are just around the corner and the first of a trio of upcoming concepts will be unveiled at the inaugural 2021 Munich Motor Show in Germany this September.
Last week, the Audi brand’s vice president and its head of design teased a trio of concepts called the Grand Sphere, the Sky Sphere, and the Urban Sphere. All three are based on the upcoming project Artemis electric vehicle platform. Autocar reports, citing unnamed sources, that Audi has now signed off on the design direction for the Grand Sphere and is almost ready to show it to the world.
We have reached out to Audi for a comment and will update this story when we hear back.
Read More: Audi Teases Three Electric Concepts Defining Different ‘Spheres’ Of Mobility
Although it’s planned as a successor to the A8, the Grand Sphere won’t just bolt an A8 body to an electric platform, Audi’s head designer Mark Lichte told the outlet.
“I asked our design teams not for their vision of an A8 successor but for something completely new. [Sales] volumes for three-box saloons such as the A8, BMW 7 Series and Mercedes-Benz S-Class are going down, and there are new, more attractive bodystyles,” Lichte told Autocar. “Honestly, I think the S-Class has been a lot more successful than our A8, so we have to come up with something completely new to attack the S-Class,” he said.
Audi’s CEO, Markus said that the Artemis project would “provide a blueprint for a fast and agile development process at the [Volkswagen] Group,” when the platform was announced in 2020. Although its range has not been revealed, the Audi Aicon concept, which is widely believed to have developed into this project, had an estimated range of between 700-800 km (434-497 miles).
The company is also working on autonomous technology and the concept will feature level-4 driverless technology. That will mean that on certain stretches of road, the driver can completely take their eyes and focus off the road.
Audi confirmed that the Grand, Urban, and Sky Sphere concepts will all be unveiled in the next 12 months. The first production version is expected in 2024 and will aim to take on the best in the world of luxury cars.
