Audi’s Sky Sphere Concept Transforms From Sports Car To Autonomous Lounge, Will Launch On August 10

Audi announced today that it will unveil its luxurious Sky Sphere concept on August 10 at its design studio in Malibu, California.

In a video published on YouTube today, the brand’s design boss, Marc Lichte, and its vice president, Henrik Wenders, announced the unveiling and teased the concept, that is expected to preview the Volkswagen Group’s next-generation electric platform, codenamed Project Artemis.

In the video, Lichte describes the Sky Sphere concept as a “sports transformation vehicle” and calls driving autonomously the pinnacle of luxury.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6IZ-AwDmz4

“This concept car is, on one hand, a real sports car, and it can transform in only a few seconds into an autonomous lounge,” says Lichte, before Wenders jumps in to describe how it will feature connected services we “sometimes cannot even imagine yet.”

Teaser images of the concept car show a low, sleek, long-hooded car that the video’s hosts say was inspired by the Horsch 853A, seen in the video. Like the classic car, a darkened shot of the Sky Sphere suggests that it will be a convertible, which makes sense given the name.

The Sky Sphere is part of a trio of concepts that Audi announced earlier this month: the Sky Sphere, the Grand Sphere, and the Urban Sphere. Although details on the third model remain scant, Lichte did say that the Grand Sphere will be a take the place of the luxurious A8 in the lineup.

“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 body styles,” 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.”

Based on the next-gen Project Artemis electric platform, these concepts will be our most up-to-date peek at what Audi is planning for its next-gen electric vehicles. Although we don’t yet know how much range the automaker is expecting out of its upcoming platform, the Audi Aicon, the brand’s last futuristic concept, was estimated to get between 700-800 km (434-497 miles).

Audi has already said that it will be revealing all three of “Sphere” concepts in the next 12 months.