Yahoo Autos Audi Activesphere blends Sportback, Allroad and ... pickup?
If you had any doubt that electric pickup trucks were the hot new thing, the Audi Activesphere Concept (the last of the "-sphere" concepts) should finally convince you. Yes, it looks like a blend of one of Audi's coupe-like hatches called Sportbacks, and its lifted wagons called Allroads, but it's also a pickup when you want.
At the press of the button, the rear hatch splits. The top half slides up the roof to open up the cargo area, and the rear flips down to become the tailgate. The whole cargo area has rugged materials to handle dirty and bulky items. There are even brackets to easily mount bikes. And to keep the passenger area enclosed and safe from weather and dirty cargo, a divider rises up behind the rear seats. Though we would hope that there would be an option to open it up in truck mode like a Silverado EV or Ram Revolution mid-gate.
The convertible truck bed is definitely the headline feature, but there's still more to talk about. Starting from the outside, the car is about the same length as the Audi A7 Sportback, but a few inches wider and taller. That's due to the raised ride height and roughly 34-inch diameter tires. Those tires are mounted to fancy wheels that can open up for better ventilation, or stay closed and smooth for aerodynamics. Air suspension allows the car to adjust ground clearance between 8.2 and 9.8 inches.
Inside is where more wild Activesphere features are included. The interior is typically minimalist, and the seats hang off a big center console that features storage as well as a heated and cooled section for beverages. The steering wheel and dashboard can retract for fully autonomous mode. In this mode, the cabin becomes extremely airy, leaving the front glass (which fills the space traditionally occupied by a grille) completely unobstructed. The glass in the lower parts of the doors and the roof augment the open feeling.
