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Audi Grandsphere electric sedan concept revealed: The EV future of Audi is a 'private jet for the road'

Audi's latest EV concept isn't an SUV but a luxurious lounge in the body of a sedan.

Audi has revealed the second of three concept cars planned to preview its all-electric post-2030 future.

Unlike many electric-era concept vehicles which come in the form of SUVs, the Grandsphere is a large luxury sedan designed to celebrate the “luxury of private travel in the greatest comfort”.

To that end, the Grandsphere has a retractable steering wheel, pedal set and display cluster to turn its interior into a lounge-like space.

Audi envisions the Grandsphere as making full use of the Volkswagen Group’s new software stack to enable full SAE Level 4 automated driving – that is, the ability for the car to entirely drive on its own, with only the presence of a driver.

Audi says Level 4 driving autonomy will be possible in VW Group vehicles “by the second half of the decade” and will allow the Grandsphere to “independently handle parking and charging”.

The brand says the Grandsphere moves the focus of design to the vehicle's interior, rather than the drive system and handling, and has fully reclining seats, a bench for the rear, personalised controls based on an automatically recognised individual profile, and gesture controls to reduce the amount of control surfaces needed. Audi says the interior can be configured as an office, theatre or lounge.

The Grandsphere was built around its interior design. The Grandsphere was built around its interior design.

The Grandsphere is said to have a huge 120kWh battery pack, good for a range of more than 750km. Its 800-volt architecture will allow charging times from 5-80 per cent in just 25 minutes. Powering the Grandsphere is two electric motors capable of producing 530kW/960Nm, allowing a 0-100km/h sprint time of four seconds for the over-five-metre-long luxury sedan. To assist with the turning circle for such a large vehicle, the Grandsphere has four-wheel steering.

Audi says the Grandsphere sits on the premium PPE platform, a ground-up electric-only platform which is shared between it and Porsche for large SUVs and sedans. It is independent from the SSP platform which most VW Group vehicles will merge onto as they move into the electric era, replacing the current MEB platform which underpins the VW ID.3, and the MLB and MSP J1 platform which underpins the e-tron SUV and Porsche Taycan respectively.

The first vehicle on the PPE platform will debut before the end of 2023.

The first production vehicle on VW Group's new PPE platform will debut in 2023. The first production vehicle on VW Group's new PPE platform will debut in 2023.

Audi says the long-term objective is for SSP and MEB to merge into SSP in the long term, as the scalability of the platform is VW Group’s “key competitive advantage” in overcoming the costs associated with electric vehicle development. It also has highlighted "data-based" revenue opportunities which can be derived from the platform's software capabilities.

Audi says a ‘production version’ of the Grandsphere concept will launch sometime around 2025. The brand’s last combustion-powered car will debut around the same time, with production of combustion powertrains to be completely phased out by 2030.