In its third iteration, the “-sphere” family of prototypes produces a generous proposal tailored to the needs of Asian megalopolises, agglomerations populated by more than ten million inhabitants that justify the prolonged use of private vehicles on wide routes and, therefore, hypertrophic dimensions compared to the European “urban” context (eponymous to the car).
Centrality of autonomous driving
The project continues to be dominated by the centrality of autonomous driving, obviously with electric propulsion, and a network of digital relations between passengers, car and environment capable of transforming every journey into a “sphere” of experience: there are, however, several dissonances with its two sister cars, described by Auto&Design in issue number 252.
MPV for the families
If the Sky- represents a shortened roadster ready for the most winding routes, leaving the driver in control, while the Grand- constitutes a flagship whose front seats slide back sumptuously when electronics take over, the Urbansphere resolutely explores the MPV sphere “with special care for the second row and its occupants, not forgetting that up to six seats are made available to accommodate families”, explains Marc Lichte, head of Audi design.
Beijing style centre’s role
So it is not merely a functional investment in height and volume, although the result turns out the most habitable Audi ever: «Here we worked together with our style centre in Beijing meticulously gathering ideas from potential buyers. What emerged was such an interest in the central seats that it substantially influenced the entire architecture. And then, above all, the conception process was executed completely from the inside out, creating an authentic private bubble in which to relax in traffic».
The car as liveable place
This approach immediately refers to a vision of the car as the third liveable place, after home and the office, which has been already hypothesised by some sociologists «and which deeply permeates our “trilogy of spheres”», confirms Lichte. «It will certainly express itself in many surprising outward appearances in the near future».
Progressive luxury
The interior consequently reaffirms the Grand-’s notion of “progressive luxury” from which it takes the horizontal layout of the dashboard, the rationale behind the seat inclination and the entirety of the controls on the armrests, with the addition of special voice analysis software capable of suggesting the best on-board settings depending on the tone of the traveller.
(Full article in A&D n. 255)
