Audi already has an armada of new and updated models coming in 2025 alone, but it also has its sights set on a more luxurious future – one that could include luxurious electric flagship models.
The brand’s UK boss, Jose Miguel Aparicio, told Auto Express there will be a “step upwards in terms of premiumness, increasing the prestige, desirability and perception of the brand, and more interested in the quality of business than the quantity”.
Audi is part of the Volkswagen Group, which also includes prestigious brands like Bentley and Porsche. According to Auto Express, Mr Aparicio believes there’s space within the Volkswagen Group for Audi to step up in its luxury orientation without landing on the toes of its most premium brands.
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A6 e-tron
“Luxury is covered by Bentley and Porsche, and in the premium market there are many segments and many ways of bringing a proposition to a customer,” he told Auto Express.
“It’s not a fundamental change, it’s an evolution and has to be followed by adjustments to the customer experience; it’s something we have to do with our retail partners.”
“We are significantly increasing the centre of gravity in terms of price because we are more present [in these sectors]; the number of customers in C and D segments we want to approach is increasing.”
“That means a significant increase in price, and in order to do it successfully we really need to create this brand attraction and desire. The essence for this is product innovation, but we also have to offer a premium customer experience to them; we are talking about making an evolution, moving upwards,” he continued.
Audi Q5
The C-segment designation refers to vehicles like the Audi Q3, while D-segment models include the Q5.
Audi previously confirmed it won’t replace the B-segment Audi Q2 and A1, as it prioritises more expensive and more profitable models.
Former Audi CEO Markus Duesmann told Handelsblatt in 2022, “We will limit our range of models downwards and expand upwards.”
Mr Duesmann was subsequently replaced with Gernot Döllner, reportedly due to a slow product rollout and disappointing sales in China.
Audi Grandsphere concept
Audi’s upmarket push has already been previewed through two concepts: the Audi Grandsphere and Urbansphere concepts revealed in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
Intended to be a fully electric grand tourer, the Grandsphere could preview an even more luxurious replacement for the Audi A8 limousine.
Similarly, the Urbansphere concept was revealed as an electric people mover. Audi has previously been rumoured to be working on a model to sit above its existing flagship SUVs, the Q7 and Q8, and this concept could preview such a vehicle.
Mr Aparicio outlined a shift to EVs would provide a chance for brands to adjust customer perception, though it was important to remember Audi “cannot assume that those ones that were premium in the past will also be the winners for the future”.
Audi Urbansphere concept
“We have to earn that status. It’s important to ensure that we have the value in the product range, that we have the customer experience that really grants us this premiumness for the future in an EV battery-electric-vehicle world,” he told Auto Express.
That leaves the door open for production versions of the Grandsphere and Urbansphere concepts.
Both vehicles are huge at more than five metres in length, are supposedly capable of Level 4 autonomous driving, and built atop Audi and Porsche’s Premium Platform Electric – which already underpins cars like the Porsche Macan EV, Audi A6 e-tron, and Q6 e-tron.
The Grandsphere concept is marginally longer and wider than a long-wheelbase A8 at 5.35m long and 2.0m wide, while being roughly 120mm lower at 1.39m in height.
Its wheelbase is quoted at 3.19m in length, and it uses a 120kWh battery with a dual-motor all-wheel drive setup producing 530kW and 960Nm, along with a claimed range of more than 750km on the WLTP cycle.
The Urbansphere concept measures 5.51m long, 2.01m wide, 1.78m tall, and rides on a 3.4m wheelbase – meaning it could be Audi’s largest-ever production car if it becomes a reality.
Outputs are 295kW and 690Nm, and with the same battery as the Grandsphere, it too can supposedly reach 750km.
If these models do make their way to showrooms, it likely won’t happen until later this decade.
Mercedes-Benz has also confirmed an upmarket push of its own. That includes launching new high-end models like the Mercedes-Maybach SL, while also reducing the number of small luxury models it offers from seven to four.
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