Audi's latest concept is an EV that expands and contracts: Details here
Audi has unveiled the first of an upcoming trio of
concept vehicles, the Audi Skysphere.
An all-electric roadster with carriage-style doors and oversized
wheels, the Skysphere’s most notable characteristic is that it can shorten or
elongate its wheelbase with the push of a button. Skysphere presages two other
concept cars planned for debut this year: The Grandsphere concept, due out next
month, and the Urbansphere concept, which will debut in 2022.
“This is the first piece in how we are foreseeing the future,”
said Henrik Wenders, the head of brand for Audi AG, at a private
preview of the vehicle August 9 at a studio in Hollywood. “The present is
offering everything we need for the future … and we had better hurry up.”
News of the concept comes as Audi reports its best-ever first six
months in the 52-year history of the modern iteration of the brand, with net
cash flow between €4.5 billion ($5.27 billion) to €5.5 billion, up from €3.5
billion to €4.5 billion previously. In July, parent-company Volkswagen AG
lifted its forecast operating return to as much as 7.5 per cent, thanks in part
to big double-digit margins at Audi. Closer to home, Audi of America increased
deliveries by 92 per cent in Q2 over the same period in 2020. Year to date
sales in North America are up 60 per cent, Audi reported in July.
Meanwhile Audi has committed €15 billion to electrification across
its entire fleet, said Hildegard Wortmann, the member of the board of
management for sales and marketing for Audi AG. By 2025, Audi will offer 20
different electric cars across its global portfolio. Audi’s hybrids and EVs are
already profitable and best-sellers in Europe, Wortmann said.
In the United States, 30 per cent of sales will come from electric
vehicles by then, a spokesperson said. The hybrid Q5 already comprises 12 per
cent of total Q5 sales. So the electric concept series fits right according to
plan, she said. “We are not going to do this by half,” Wortmann said. “We want
to go the full way. We want to be the leading sustainable premium brand.”
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