Audi is working behind the scenes on a new top model, an electric car that will probably be offered alongside the A8. The flagship, temporarily christened ‘Artemis’, will be ‘something completely different’, according to designer Marc Lichte.
Last spring, Audi announced that it is working under the name ‘Artemis’ on a model that promises to be the crème de la crème of the brand. According to Audi, the car will have the latest developments in the field of electric and autonomous driving on board. So we are probably dealing with a fully electric alternative to the A8. Competitors Mercedes-Benz and BMW also come up with such cars in the form of the EQS and the i7 respectively. But these are already starting to become more concrete, while the Audi Artemis is still one big mystery.
Nevertheless, Audi’s chief designer Marc Lichte in conversation with Techzle wants to lift a tip of the veil. According to him, Audi does not aim to design electrically powered cars very extravagantly. “We just want to make the most beautiful cars”, says Lichte. That was also the idea behind the upcoming E-tron GT. However, he believes it will become a bit more daring with Artemis: “With that we want to redefine the luxury segment. In terms of proportions, this has been completely rethought, we started from the beginning.” Light and his team will no doubt come up with something recognizable as Audi, but he hints that we can count on Audi’s biggest design change in years.
Audi Aicon Concept (2017)
Aicon
The car that possibly best gives an idea of ​​what can be expected from the Artemis, is the (pictured) Aicon Concept from 2017. After all, with its 5.44 meters in length, that was a car that A8 regions fail. An unconventionally designed top limousine that has nothing to do with the typical sedan shape of the A8 and yet is immediately recognizable as an Audi. The Aicon was also electrically powered, with four electric motors squeezing 354 horsepower out of it, and a theoretical range of 700 to 800 km. Instead of conventional lighting, the Aicon had a kind of screens on which 3D pixels simulate lamps. The lack of a steering wheel in the futuristic interior is of course due to the presence of technology for fully autonomous driving.
2022?
Under the Artemis project, Audi is working on a ‘highly efficient electric car’ to be launched on the market in 2024. Even earlier, according to Audi, ‘developed in record time’, a ‘halo car’ appears. There is a good chance that that is all the aforementioned flagship. Given that the Mercedes-Benz EQS and BMW i7 will be released in the next two years, it could just be that Audi will come with the special electric top limousine in 2022.