On July 5, we told you that Audi will present three new concepts at the 2021 IAA Mobility. L’Argus said they were part of the Artemis project, but we had nothing at the time that could confirm that. More evidence emerged not only to demonstrate L’Argus was right but also to present the name of one of these three new EVs: it will be called the Apollon.
Markus Duesmann revealed that himself in his presentation at the Volkswagen New Auto strategy event. The Audi CEO announced even more aspects of the SSP (Scalable Systems Platform) and a chart in which the name of the new vehicle appeared.
The Apollon will be revealed in 2026, a little after the Volkswagen Trinity. Considering the shape it presents in that chart, we suspect it will be the production version of the Sky Sphere. The Artemis would be the Grand Sphere, according to teasers revealed on July 12.
We created the image below to compare the Grand Sphere, one of the teaser images, and the shape Herbert Diess presented at the introduction of the New Auto strategy. Apart from the teaser picture – which shows a car with a much larger rear overhang than the concept seems to have – the other two profiles match almost perfectly.
Photo: Volkswagen
If that is really the case, the Artemis project is actually about three vehicles, even if only the very first of them receives that name. The Apollon could be the electric sports car to replace the e-tron GT, even if that EV was just presented and vehicles normally have a six-year lifecycle. Unfortunately, Duesmann’s presentation did not have the final name for the Urban Sphere concept.
All three cars will be made over SSP. Duesmann said it would only work with 800V as the PPE platform. That will bring its cars the advantage of a faster charging process, even if there are concerns with the high voltage in crashes, for example.
Duesmann also revealed that SSP would allow the Volkswagen group to reduce complexity in manufacturing. Using battery system modules as an example, he said SSP can bring them from 22 units down to only 8, a 64% decrease.
Photo: Volkswagen
The secret with SSP would be the combination of these modules to allow for maximum product differentiation. Another chart confirms Audi will have three models build over SSP. Bentley and Lamborghini should have two, Porsche will have one, and the other brands will get an undefined number (n). So far, we only know about Project Trinity for Volkswagen, but more are sure to follow.
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