Audi reveals Urbansphere concept aimed at ‘Chinese megacities’

The Audi Urbansphere – the third and final of the ‘Sphere’ concepts – is an MPV-like four-seater built to take a look into what high-end transport could look like in a high-density megacity. Specifically, Audi had China in mind for this particular design.

Created in close collaboration with Audi’s Beijing design studios, the Urbansphere design also took input from potential customers in China into account, media was told during a ‘sneak peek’ prior to the concept’s reveal.

Despite dimensions which suggest a people-hauling van, the Urbansphere seats only a driver and three passengers, each with a properly first-class amount of space to enjoy.

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Audi considers the Urbansphere to be a “living space”, giving examples for use such as a lounge on wheels and a mobile office during the time its occupants are in traffic.

This is likely to be a significant amount of time, Audi expects, in a highly populated Chinese megacity. As such, autonomous driving is central to the interior space in the Urbansphere, and its steering wheel can be hidden within the dash.

This increases the available space in the cabin, which is already plentiful thanks to the Urbansphere’s 5.51-metre length, 2.01-metre width, and 1.78-metre height. 3.4 metres of wheelbase keep the space inside usable.

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Particularly luxurious are the rear seats, which are able to swivel depending on social situations within the cabin, or become a semi-private media space thanks to a ‘blind’ which rotates around from behind the headrest.

Screens on the rear of the front seats provide additional media function for the second row.

Controls for the majority of the seat functions for each passenger are found in small clusters on the doors, which each open outwards from the centre. This means the rear doors are reversed, and there is no B-Pillar. Entry to the Urbansphere is as easy as Audi could have made it without employing someone to pick you up and carry you in.

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Bamboo fabric, sustainable wood veneer, and recycled seat padding contribute to what Audi hopes to be a ‘green’ manufacturing process, with the wood grown near the manufacture site and processed without chemicals.

Outside, Audi has used the front ‘grille’ space and rear centre strip as entire light clusters, able to create headlights, taillights, reverse lights, and indicators out of the individual LED elements. On the subject of lights, Audi has also paid homage to China with a ‘Light Umbrella’ inspired by traditional Chinese umbrellas. It’s a reflective umbrella that contains lights within the frame to both light an individual’s surroundings and make them more visible for safety.

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While it’s just a concept, Audi has revealed some technical specifications of the Urbansphere which highlight its range, drive, and outputs. With a 120kWh battery, the Urbansphere boasts a claimed 750km range, with 800v charging capability for 300km range in ten minutes of charging, or a charge from 5 to 80 per cent in less than 25 minutes.

The concept features a motor on each axle, driving all four wheels with a total 295kW and 690Nm.

Rear-wheel steering and air suspension, not dissimilar from some current high-end Audi models, allow for more nimble steering and a more comfortable ride.

When asked by Wheels if the three ‘Sphere’ concepts, including the Grandsphere and Skysphere, were a sign of a new ideology for Audi’s range, marketing spokesperson Silke Guse told us the Sphere concepts are intended to convey Audi’s ideas for the distant future.

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“Having said that, in the second half of this decade we will have a completely new vehicle coming to the road, a lot has been taken from the Grandsphere that will be taken to that serial production model.

“The other two are show cars… especially the Urbansphere, but we are waiting for feedback from clients and customers to see how we can use these ideas for serial production models.

“Our model line will change massively over the next few years… we’ll see new electric models come into these segments, and combustion vehicles will fall by the wayside, which will have an effect on our model nomenclature.”