Bold adventure coupe crossover running next A6’s battery-pepped platform

GERMANY’S response to the Tesla Cybertruck? 

That’s one expressed view of the fourth and final concept vehicle of Audi’s ‘sphere’ series.

Teslarati need not fret. Audi is adamant that it has no intention to bring a pick-up model into its family. In any event, it prefers what you see today to be considered a rugged crossover coupe. 

As much as the just-unveiled ‘Activesphere’ crossover vehicle could conceivably position as a potential rival to Musk’s much-delayed-and-yet-to-be-wholly-confirmed dream machine, it’s primary role is to lend a look at a high-tech car interior of the distant future. Plus, insiders suggest, it also previews the electric powertrain of the A6 e-tron line-up arriving from next year.

All the 'sphere' concepts have explored car cabin design. The Activesphere goes further by using mixed reality headsets for the driver and passengers.

These superimpose information and virtual switchgear on the real-world view of the car's interior and the view out, allowing Audi's designers to dispense with more or less all supplementary controls and display screens in the cabin.

Worried about data overload? It’s too clever for that. If a driver focuses on a specific piece of information, then more is provided. Also, various controls - those for the climate control or infotainment, mostly - are shown virtually via the headset, allowing the passengers to use hand gestures to make adjustments as and when necessary. The headsets could theoretically be used outside the car, too, though Audi isn’t being too specific how. 

The airy cabin has seating for four. The wraparound chairs appear suspended, as part of a chunky central spar front front to rear; this doubles up as a 'bar' for hot and cold drinks. 

Ahead of the driver is an unusual steering wheel in the shape of a rounded rectangle, but it’s not a must-use. Like the pther spheres, this one delivers a fully autonomous driving mode. When the wheel slips out of sight, the driver has a view through the front of the car.

Activesphere runs on 22-inch alloy wheels sporting chunky off-road tyres and it achieves a raised ride height that, thanks to use of air suspension, can be altered. The body styling a distinctly sporty rear window line and curvy roof.

It’s a deceptively large car, more than five metres long, with a near three metre wheelbase. Audi says it picks up design details from its Sportback models and allroad quattro cars, but has a new term for it - the ‘active Sportback’.

Within it is what Audi calls the ‘active back’, where the rear glass slides up and the back of the car folds down to create a load bed, with floor-inset brackets and grooves to hold sporting equipment such as bikes in place. A ski rack is built into the roof.

 Activesphere uses the 'PPE' platform system under development in cooperation with Porsche, designed to underpin the next generation of large, premium electric models, the first of which are expected to be revealed before the end of this year.

The concept has the 800 volt electrical system intended for PPE cars that allows fast charging and Audi cites a range of more than 600 kilometres thanks to a 100kWh battery pack within the floor. Combined peak output from the two electric motors is quoted as 330kW and 720Nm.

The Sphere concepts were developed by Audi's Artemis skunkworks team that was established in 2020 to help accelerate vehicle development in an attempt to compete with more agile startups in the EV race.

Preceding Activesphere were the Grandsphere (a luxury sedan, called the private jet of the road) and Skysphere (two-door convertible) of 2021 and the Urbansphere (more compact than the others, designed inside out’ and envisaged to survive in China’s congested cities) of 2022.