These two days were truly dramatic. On April 20, BMW unveiled the new 7 Series, and on the evening of April 19, Mercedes-Benz and Audi held a launch of the electrified model (concept car) at the same time. It seems to be an inner volume, but in fact, some people are not panicked at all, such as Audi.
You will find that BMW and Mercedes-Benz have both been involved in electrification. After the early versions of the i3 and i8 withdrew from the market, the iX3 was the first product of BMW to unveil a new electrification strategy, followed by the iX and i4, luxurious, sports at the same time. What the? Do you like it the most or the 3 Series? Well, not long ago, BMW's new i3 also officially met with Chinese consumers through domestic methods.
Mercedes-Benz, a number of pure electric models unveiled at the 2021 Munich Motor Show, followed by a new EQS, EQA, EQB, EQXX and EQS SUV after a burst of water, which is overwhelming.
It now seems that Audi's e-tron and e-tron GT have been some years old, after all, the summer that burned for "Avengers" has been stuck forever in 2018. In addition, Audi also has the Q2 e-tron launched in 2019, the latest product is the Q5 e-tron tailored for SAIC Audi in China and the Q4 e-tron that will soon enter the Chinese market.
Seriously, Audi has told many more stories in the past year around three concept cars: grandsphere, skysphere and urbansphere than the mass-produced pure electric models.
Even if it is a "volume", it must be "rolled"
Obviously, in the matter of electrification, Audi does not seem to be in a hurry, because when we rationally analyze the market share of the current BBA pure electric model, you will find that this matter is not in a hurry.
The development of new cars requires costs, everyone is not a hot-blooded youth who loves to generate electricity, which BBA is not a century-old veteran of the chariot factory? First of all, the account is clear, the matter is clear, and sometimes it is not a good thing to rush to the end.
In fact, even with the dual value of product power and brand influence, the pure electric models of traditional luxury brands are still applauded and not sold. According to Carsalesbase data, Mercedes-Benz's EQA and EQB models in The domestic sale of five months later, single-month sales are still more than a few hundred units, EQS has no data, but I think everyone should have certain expectations for the market performance of this car.
Among them, the BMW iX3 is the top seller on the sales list, with an average monthly sales of about 2,000 units. In Europe and the United States, Tesla is on the sales list, and in China, in addition to Tesla, there are new forces. You may think that luxury brand model sales should be lower than Tesla Model 3 and Xiaopeng P7 such cost-effective products, the market law is indeed so, but what problems reflect when they can't sell Weilai? In this round of new stories and traditional forces, consumers may be more willing to listen to fresher ideas.
With the current market share of luxury brands, Audi's large-scale layout of pure electric products this year may be almost the same as re-entry in two years, of course, we will not lose to Mercedes-Benz and BMW in brand influence because of its slow movement. The three pure electric concept cars are both "cakes" and new stories and imaginations.
Say 2030 launch more than a dozen electric vehicles
Are they all scumbags?
As the saying goes, "the rich rely on technology, the poor rely on mutation", and there is technology and mutation, that is Tom Dutch brother, and perhaps tomorrow's Audi.
Traditional luxury brands have never lacked technology. Why isn't Audi in a hurry, because they have the PPE luxury pure electric platform, and the urbansphere concept car unveiled yesterday is the product of the PPE platform.
From this car, we can simply get some information about the PPE platform, first of all, the battery module of the Audi urbansphere has a capacity of up to 120 kWh. The platform uses 800V voltage technology, on top of which the urbansphere can reach 270 kilowatts of charging power, which only takes ten minutes to charge, which is enough to increase the cruising range of more than 300 kilometers. Charge the battery from 5% to 80% in as little as 25 minutes.
In terms of performance, the two motors of the Audi urbansphere concept car have a total output of 295 kW and a torque of up to 690 Nm, and the model is also equipped with an electric quattro four-wheel drive system: the front and rear axles are equipped with an electric motor, which can be driven by electronic control if necessary. However, the upper limit of the Audi PPE platform can reach a maximum output of 350 kW and a torque of 800 N·m.
At the same time, the Audi urbansphere gives a rather astonishing size layout, with a length of 5.51 meters, a width of 2.01 meters, a height of 1.78 meters, and a wheelbase of 3.4 meters. Although it is a four-seat layout, it has entered the realm of full-size SUVs in terms of space and size.
However, the Audi urbansphere may be the limit of audi's PPE platform. According to Oliver Hoffmann, head of Audi's technical department at the UBS investor meeting on July 7, 2021, 800V will be the most core technology on the platform, with a platform development size range of 2890 to 3080mm, which can support the development of B-class to D-class vehicles, and a ground clearance range of 1641-1714mm, which can support the joint development of cars and SUVs.
In the strategic technical layout of the pure electric platform, Audi is definitely at the forefront of the industry. The PPE platform covers mid-to-high-end models, covering Audi's mainstream audience, introducing Volkswagen's MEB platform, on which Audi has developed the Q4 e-tron model, as well as the performance-oriented J1 platform, which has two models, the Audi e-tron GT and porsche Taycan.
As shown in the chart above, it is a multi-dimensional comparison of the three platforms used by Audi, covering all the market segments we can think of.
At last night's press conference, Audi also announced the "Audi China Enterprising 2030 Strategy", which mentioned that it will deepen cooperation with FAW Group to deepen the product spectrum sold in China. At the same time, looking back at the strategy released by Audi in 2021, there is a more core event mentioned, Audi will start in 2026, and the new cars launched to the outside world will be all pure electric models until the end of the internal combustion engine in 2033.
Since the trend of electrification has penetrated into the automotive industry, it is no surprise that everyone has seen a similar strategy, and even pulled out 30 electric vehicle models as Toyota has done to show determination. Perhaps most people are skeptical about whether traditional car companies can quickly complete the electrification product line, such as the ideal car we have seen, they have only launched two models in five years, and traditional car companies have several or even more than ten in one swing.
In fact, the key to the problem lies in the ability to systematize, like the three platforms that Audi has laid out, the concept of platformization and modularization emerged in the 1970s, and it is precisely because it can shorten the development cycle of new models and improve efficiency.
Traditional car companies face many more problems than new forces, and in the era of intelligence, the core problem faced by international car companies is regional localization. Because the regions in which the products are placed, the user preferences are different, and the characteristics and functional trends of the products are also very different. Therefore, before officially entering the electrification revolution, laying the strategic cornerstone can better meet the challenge, and sometimes the rush to the end will disrupt the rhythm of launching products.
On urbansphere,
Audi learned "co-creation"
Next, let's talk about "mutation", which we can understand as a new way of playing in the automotive industry. New forces car companies in order to quickly stand firm in the market to tell users a lot of new stories, the most widely circulated is "user co-creation", today, Chinese consumers are no longer 20 years ago "car blind" as the world's largest automobile market, and the world's fastest changing car market users, they have enough say in the product.
So Audi's new urbansphere concept car has two labels: Led by Chinese teams; and co-created by users.
Urbansphere's interior design team comes from the Audi China Design Center in Beijing, located within the 798.
At the press conference, designer Stephan Fahr-Becker mentioned that in the in-depth exchange with Chinese customers, Audi observed that Chinese consumers' views on the future of high-end travel have changed. Their expectation of a high-quality luxury travel experience is a release of space that was no longer met by traditional configurations that used to accommodate as many seats, storage space and functional elements as possible. Instead, they wanted to have a space that was spacious enough and made the sense of comfort a unique feature. Because in addition to physical space, they are also looking for a spiritual space that can slow themselves down in the busy urban life.
Blank, interconnected, third space
In fact, many people are curious about the intention of Audi to launch three concept cars in the era of electrification. In fact, through the name of "sphere", it can be seen that the core of the three concept cars of Audi Skysphere, Audi Grandest and Audi Urbansphere lies in the interior space. The basis of vehicle design and technology becomes the interior space, that is, the space where passengers live and experience during the journey.
We stand at the crossroads of the automotive industrial revolution, where we have chosen electrification between the internal combustion engine and electrification, and between fuel cells and batteries of chemical materials, while unswervingly reforming the entire vehicle's electrification architecture. And the people who do the best in every change become the best in the industry, such as Tesla.
Now we're going to have to deal with the problem of a change in cockpit space, which is perhaps why Audi continues to think about the possibilities of cockpits at this stage. On the Audi urbansphere, there are three key points I see: blank space, interconnection, and third space.
01
Leave blank
It's easy to understand, and since the moment the car was born, car companies have been doing it. In the early days, we can understand the blank space as the storage space in the car, in addition to sitting people, users always want some space to put things, so designers placed storage compartments on the door panels, cup holders in front of the central armrest box and so on.
The storage space is the product of personalized needs, and a blank space can be disposed of at your disposal. On the Audi urbansphere, designers have taken the space to the extreme, and in the era of electrification, Audi has also provided users with more intelligent "white space".
Dusman, Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi AG, said: "In order to make electric mobility more attractive, our design idea is to start from the whole, from the needs of users." It is more important than ever that it is not just the product itself that plays a decisive role, but also the entire ecosystem. As a result, Audi is actively building a fully integrated digital ecosystem that serves the entire vehicle.
The Audi urbansphere concept offers all occupants a wide range of options, with a highly personalized and free experience: users can flexibly switch between busy work and quiet personal privacy in the car, either in the car or in communication or rest. As a result, the Audi urbansphere concept car has transformed from a strictly car to a "mobile experience terminal" to bring an unparalleled user experience.
02
Interconnection
Screens have become indispensable in cars in this era. The Audi urbansphere is equipped with a total of four screens, an integrated giant machine screen in front of the cockpit, a screen behind the two seats in front, and a transparent screen on the roof.
On urbansphere, screen freedom is the foundation for intelligent interconnection. In the promotional video, we noticed an interesting detail, the heroine got out of the car and walked to the red carpet, and this highlight moment was also recorded by the camera, and then the clip was transmitted directly to the urbansphere car.
This detail reflects one thing, whether it is a car machine or a mobile phone, in fact, they are a "platform", it is a medium to display the information you need, when the car machine and all the 3C electronic product information on your body, a lot of interesting things will happen. In addition to the plot in the promotional film, in the future, the beautiful scenery captured by your action camera, drone and other photographic equipment can be transmitted to the car machine in the first time, and shared with friends with a larger and clearer medium.
In addition, human-computer interconnection is also a trend. Combined with innovative digital technology, the Audi urbansphere concept car can also become a personal health space for mobility. Among the many functions, occupant stress monitoring is a very important one, through facial interpretation and speech analysis, the car can intelligently judge the passenger's feelings, and provide personalized relaxation suggestions, such as using the "meditation" app through the private audio area on the separate screen and headrest, soothing the body and mind anytime, anywhere, healing stress relief.
We've talked about gesture interaction before, and Audi engineers have given us a whole new use case, in the car in the position of the traditional door handle, the designers have arranged a smart interaction unit, you can use it to control the temperature inside the car, seat angle, etc. And this control unit can not only recognize speech, physical touch can also sense your gestures, why do so redundant?
Because the large space can sometimes bring inconveniences, such as you place the seat in the semi-reclining position, and then adjusting the seat angle needs to get up to complete, with the air gesture control, you can avoid the above embarrassing situation. We used to say that luxury cars have "humanistic care", but this description is quite a sense of castle in the air, until I saw this detail on the Audi urbansphere, I did not understand this matter deeply.
03
Third space
In Audi's official interpretation of the urbansphere, there is a sentence that "the Audi urbansphere concept car adopts a gate design in front of and behind the door, and cancels the B-pillar." When passengers get on the bus, the entire interior space is open to passengers. At the same time, the seats rotate outwards, and a beam of light is lit up like a "red carpet", full of emotional ritual."
The interior design of the Audi urbansphere is full of this sense of ceremony, such as large areas of ambient lighting, soft beige and gray color schemes, dark green seat shells, and so on. What is the purpose of arranging this? I think it's more about enhancing the user's sense of immersion.
My colleague once told me that it is not accustomed to driving a car without mood lights now, and it always feels like the cabin is empty, as if there is less. I always thought that the mood light was an optional low-demand configuration, but his words caused me to rethink this problem.
Humans need a sense of atmosphere, the simplest example, those who are still working from home must be deeply touched, and the efficiency of working from home must be lower than in the office or in the café. Many freelancers like to go to the café office, because there is a relatively comfortable environment, white noise and people who go to work like them, everyone seems to be an island but affects each other, others are writing books on your side, do you mean to mess up?
A lot of the truth is the same, the movies that can be watched on the mobile phone are going to the theater, the werewolf killing that can be played on the mobile phone is going to the board game store to play, these leisure places we often go to are called the third space, and the real attraction of them is the sense of atmosphere. So on the urbansphere, we can also see what kind of atmosphere Audi needs to give users when exploring the future cockpit.
Whether it's watching a movie on a roof screen, video with friends, or attending a meeting, this urbansphere may give you a great immersive experience.
At last
Looking back at the three concept car products released by Audi in the past year, we can clearly see that Audi has been constantly thinking about what the future car should be, and they are not behind closed doors, and even joined hands with users to imagine the future and carry out "brain storms" together.
In my traditional understanding, this kind of operation should not have appeared on luxury brands, and they thought that they would have no fear with the cash cows of fuel vehicles, but they were trying to innovate themselves and bravely embrace the next era of automobiles.