Audi Luxury Minivan Rendering Envisions SUV Alternative

It takes after the Urbansphere concept, but visually toned down.

By: Adrian Padeanu

May 28, 2022 at 2:53pm ET

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With a population of over 1.4 billion, China is a huge market for automakers. Even though crossovers and SUVs are all the rage there as it's the case all over the world, there is still strong demand for sedans and minivans. To that end, German car companies have stretched their saloons for extra rear legroom while some brands have come out with luxury people-movers. Some examples of the latter include Lexus with the LM and Buick with the GL8.

In the case of Audi, it wanted to bring the Urbansphere to the Beijing Auto Show earlier this year. However, the event was postponed indefinitely due to a resurgence in coronavirus cases in China. The Four Rings decided to unveil the showcar online while refraining from calling it a minivan or an MPV. However, look beyond the sophisticated styling and fancy interior and it's a minivan at the end of the day. What if the peeps from Ingolstadt were to make the concept? This is where the speculative rendering comes in.

Fully electric because this is where the automotive industry is inevitably heading toward, the road-going minivan has been visually toned down. It wouldn't look out of place near one of Audi's many E-Tron SUVs. Speaking of which, the zero-emissions Q5 E-Tron was launched earlier this year in China as a more luxurious alternative to the three-row Volkswagen ID.6, another locally built EV.

Although Audi hasn't said a word about putting the Urbansphere into production, we won't be too surprised if it'll happen one day. For the time being, there are bigger fish to fry as aside from the array of crossovers, the company is putting the finishing touches on the PPE platform upon which the not-a-minivan concept was built. The A6 E-Tron is right around the corner and should spawn a wagon version to echo the A6 Avant E-Tron concept.