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Check Out Audi’s Spectacular 632-Horsepower Shape-Shifting Skysphere Electric Concept Car

The Audi Skysphere electric concept car shifts from a spacious autonomous highway tourer to a tidy hands-on sports car.

Dan Carney, Senior Editor

September 21, 2021

12 Slides
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Audi

While the automotive market has shifted toward practical wagon-bodied SUV variants, nostalgia for gorgeous grand touring roadsters remains strong, and Audi has targeted that with its Skysphere electric concept car.

The car is designed to be flexible and adaptable. That means not only the ability to switch between manual-control driving and autonomous travel, but also the ability to adjust the car’s length by 10 inches to suit the situation.

While the low-slung roadster may not be suitable for many of us as daily transportation, Audi says that the car’s design represents a direction connection to the company’s future styling direction.

The Skysphere delivers on the traditional sports car value of speed, with 632 horsepower and 553 lb.-ft. torque that combine to accelerate the car to 60 mph in less than 4.0 seconds. An Audi video showing the Skysphere’s transformation hints that the acceleration time is quicker than the car’s transformation time.

“New technologies like electrification, digitalization, and autonomous driving gave us the opportunity to create an experience that goes way beyond the one that typical roadsters offer today,” said design project manager Gael Buzyn.

Click through our gallery to get a look at this amazing shapeshifter.

Related:The German Car Industry Showcases Impressive Green Mobility Tech at IAA Munich

About the Author

Dan Carney

Senior Editor, Design News

Dan’s coverage of the auto industry over three decades has taken him to the racetracks, automotive engineering centers, vehicle simulators, wind tunnels, and crash-test labs of the world.

A member of the North American Car, Truck, and Utility of the Year jury, Dan also contributes car reviews to Popular Science magazine, serves on the International Engine of the Year jury, and has judged the collegiate Formula SAE competition.

Dan is a winner of the International Motor Press Association's Ken Purdy Award for automotive writing, as well as the National Motorsports Press Association's award for magazine writing and the Washington Automotive Press Association's Golden Quill award.

He has held a Sports Car Club of America racing license since 1991, is an SCCA National race winner, two-time SCCA Runoffs competitor in Formula F, and an Old Dominion Region Driver of the Year award winner. Co-drove a Ford Focus 1.0-liter EcoBoost to 16 Federation Internationale de l’Automobile-accredited world speed records over distances from just under 1km to over 4,104km at the CERAM test circuit in Mortefontaine, France.

He was also a longtime contributor to the Society of Automotive Engineers' Automotive Engineering International magazine.

He specializes in analyzing technical developments, particularly in the areas of motorsports, efficiency, and safety.

He has been published in The New York Times, NBC News, Motor Trend, Popular Mechanics, The Washington Post, Hagerty, AutoTrader.com, Maxim, RaceCar Engineering, AutoWeek, Virginia Living, and others.

Dan has authored books on the Honda S2000 and Dodge Viper sports cars and contributed automotive content to the consumer finance book, Fight For Your Money.

He is a member and past president of the Washington Automotive Press Association and is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers

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