Audi activesphere Concept Draws Inspiration From RS Q e-tron Dakar Rally Racer

The Audi activesphere concept draws inspiration directly from the German automaker's RS Q e-tron Dakar Rally racer, which, unfortunately, lost the grueling endurance race this year. Speaking to media ahead of the concept's premiere, members of the activesphere development team told us that the concept features "suspension and technical features" from the RS Q e-tron but did not elaborate further.

However, the engineering team "did try to learn from [the RS Q e-tron]. That was a high-performance race car for the off-road. It's in a class all of its own," CarBuzz was told. "It's not something to fully replicate in the time we have. But we did draw inspiration from motorsports. Just think quattro. This is something Audi has been promoting since the '80s."

The concept's air suspension just so happens to be adjustable by nearly 1.8 inches. And, in case you didn't already notice, this is the first Audi to feature a split tailgate design. Will this make production at some point? "Yes. Let's wait and see what happens," was the short but informative reply.

Another interesting engineering choice involves the previous three Sphere concepts: modularity, as it seems almost as if more than one vehicle has been rolled into one. Audi admitted this is indeed the case, and we can expect to see more modulation happening in future production vehicles.

"We can carry over a lot of this, and it's up to the future to decide. We've never seen a car like this. It's a Sportback combined with an active Sportback function. It's a completely new range of possibilities. Never say never."