No More Teasing – Audi A1 Finally Revealed
Audi has decided to stop teasing the hell out of us like an 18 year old in a school girl outfit and release official images, specs on their 2011 A1 concept. The auto maker known best for high performance, Jason Statham driven sports sedans like the A8 and racers like R8 wanted to shift over to the compact market. Needless to say, they’ve done a successful job – The Audi A1 will undoubtedly become a hot vehicle commodity in Europe, and eventually (we hope) throughout North America.
There’s no doubt Audi fans will LOVE the A1 – but then again they love pretty much anything Audi releases. The trick will be to tackle a market for small car nuts, who like their vehicles simple, easy to drive & maintain. Audi has not gone over the top with this redesign, but did retain some of the more noticeable, flashier benchmarks, such as their spaceship-esque headlights, Audi grill and rims.
But the rear end of A1 needed an all together new look – Audi has built wagons before, but a two-door hatchback? Treading on new ground. The slight bump on the A1′s back gives the vehicle a small “shelf” which adds ample trunk space for a ride that technically doesn’t have a real trunk, just what they call a storage space.
Audi is giving birth to the new model with four 4-cylinder engines: two TDI and two TFSI gasoline power plants, producing between 86 and 122 hp. All engines substitute turbocharging for displacement and draw their fuel through direct injection units. A1 impresses environmentalists with a MPG rating between 43.56-61.90 US, and all of the engines come equipped with a recuperation system, allowing them to recover energy during braking.
The interior is “spacious and airy.” The instrument panel “is suggestive of an airplane wing; its four round air nozzles are reminiscent of the turbines of a jet.” This is where Audi also retains some of their fancier design theories – when you site in A1, even if it’s smaller then the A6, you know what brand of car it is.
Starting price for an A1 will begin around $16,000.00 EUR / $21,766.25 USD. Keep an eye out for the A1 on US lots hopefully next year.
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