Recent media reports indicate that Audi has decided not to bring the upcoming A1 to the United States because of concerns that the car will be too expensive for the American market. Reportedly, the company will consider bringing the A1 to the States when it is redesigned for its second generation, but that is unlikely to happen before 2015.
Audi will challenge BMW's Mini Cooper and the BMW 1-Series with a premium subcompact of its own.
What We Know About the 2010 Audi A1
The 2010 Audi A1 could take its cue from the Mini Cooper, which has been a solid success in its first five years. Mini is an arm of BMW, and it's only natural that other upscale brands are looking at premium minicars of their own. Among them is Audi, the premium division of Volkswagen, where a recent management shuffle has strengthened the odds for a baby Audi smaller than today's compact-sized Audi A3 hatchback.
The Audi A1 could be on U.S. soil as early as model-year 2010, say industry sources. It'll be somewhat smaller than the A3, but longer, wider, and taller than the popular Mini Cooper. In fact, the A1 is likely to be sized close to the BMW 1-Series.
The 2010 Audi A1's basic design will doubtless borrow heavily from parent VW's European-market Polo, but will likely not be a retrimmed version of that small hatchback. VW/Audi says it's moved beyond sharing complete platforms to devising component "modules" that can be mixed and matched to create unique products for each nameplate. A current example is the VW Eos retractable hardtop convertible, which blends structural elements of the compact Rabbit/Jetta and midsize Passat, but has no Audi counterpart.
Audi will challenge BMW's Mini Cooper and the BMW 1-Series with a premium subcompact of its own.
What We Know About the 2010 Audi A1
The 2010 Audi A1 could take its cue from the Mini Cooper, which has been a solid success in its first five years. Mini is an arm of BMW, and it's only natural that other upscale brands are looking at premium minicars of their own. Among them is Audi, the premium division of Volkswagen, where a recent management shuffle has strengthened the odds for a baby Audi smaller than today's compact-sized Audi A3 hatchback.
The Audi A1 could be on U.S. soil as early as model-year 2010, say industry sources. It'll be somewhat smaller than the A3, but longer, wider, and taller than the popular Mini Cooper. In fact, the A1 is likely to be sized close to the BMW 1-Series.
The 2010 Audi A1's basic design will doubtless borrow heavily from parent VW's European-market Polo, but will likely not be a retrimmed version of that small hatchback. VW/Audi says it's moved beyond sharing complete platforms to devising component "modules" that can be mixed and matched to create unique products for each nameplate. A current example is the VW Eos retractable hardtop convertible, which blends structural elements of the compact Rabbit/Jetta and midsize Passat, but has no Audi counterpart.
Source: http://consumerguideauto.com/
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