At the Frankfurt Auto Show, Audi AG released details of a jaw-dropping upmarket supermini dubbed as the A1. The supermini coupe, based on the Audi MQB (Modular Transverse Matrix) platform and Audi Shooting Brake concept car styling, is expected to be introduced to the market in 2009.
Michael Dick, Audi's board member responsible for product engineering, confirmed that the A1 would not share the radical, all-aluminium, lightweight construction of the A2.
Audi's own supermini will be a classy hatchback laced with the brand's design flourishes - and will form a crucial plank in its strategy to become the world's biggest premium car maker by the middle of the next decade. A1 is said to arrive with 3 doors, 4 seats, in compact size and with the new twincharger engines. Diesel engines will also be available.
It will have all the features of the larger Audi models such as the multimedia interface. The Audi A1 will be engineered to rival the MINI. Now Audi is getting a plant VW has left behind. Because of VW's cost-cutting measures, a Brussels plant has been relinquished to Audi, VW's luxury division, which is in frantic need of extra production capacity.
“Audi is responsible for the development of Bentleys,” Dick said, “and we are developing an alloy structure for the next generation."
Michael Dick, Audi's board member responsible for product engineering, confirmed that the A1 would not share the radical, all-aluminium, lightweight construction of the A2.
Audi's own supermini will be a classy hatchback laced with the brand's design flourishes - and will form a crucial plank in its strategy to become the world's biggest premium car maker by the middle of the next decade. A1 is said to arrive with 3 doors, 4 seats, in compact size and with the new twincharger engines. Diesel engines will also be available.
It will have all the features of the larger Audi models such as the multimedia interface. The Audi A1 will be engineered to rival the MINI. Now Audi is getting a plant VW has left behind. Because of VW's cost-cutting measures, a Brussels plant has been relinquished to Audi, VW's luxury division, which is in frantic need of extra production capacity.
“Audi is responsible for the development of Bentleys,” Dick said, “and we are developing an alloy structure for the next generation."
