The Audi A1 is premium compact city car based on the metroproject quattro concept from the German automaker that will debt in 2010 as both a three hatchback and a five door sport back. The A1 offers styling in line with the rest of the luxury automaker’s lineup and is powered by a variety of low displacement engine. The first being a 105 HP 1.2 Liter TFSI unit while a larger 1.4 Liter unit making 170 HP will be offered as well. Diesel enthusiasts will be happy to find that Audi will also sell the A1 with a 1.6 Liter TDI making around 100 HP.
Audi has teamed up with E.ON, the Munich municipal utility company Stadtwerke München (SWM), and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) - try saying that three times fast - to prepare an onslaught of Audi A1 E-trons as part of a testing program for the electric city car. The fleet of 20 Audis is set to roll out on the streets of Munich by mid-2011 with about 200 new charging stations available for "refueling" their vehicles.
The A1 E-tron features an internal combustion engine that charges the batteries and delivers a total of 102 hp in short bursts allowing the sprint from 0 to 60 mph to be made in just 10 seconds. However, the continuous output comes in at 61hp and 150Nm of torque with top speed being set at more than 80mph. The electric motor sends its power to the front wheels via a single-speed transmission that can be switched between "Drive," "Reverse," and "Neutral".
Audi has spared no expense in thinking up ways of promoting their new premium hatch, the A1. First, they tabbed Justin Timberlake to be on-hand for the car’s official debut. Then, they used the pop icon to star in an oddly unsettling mini-series starring, well, the A1.
This time around, Audi opted to take an even more perplexing route in their A1 promotion by bringing in 22 low-riding classic cars, a slew of cameras, two customized A1s, and two members of the band Tokio Hotel – Tom and Bill Kaulitz - for a nice warehouse photo shoot.
Quite frankly, we don’t really see the point of the whole video other than its supposed to be another marketing promotion for the A1. Whether Audi is banking on the celebrity appeal of Tokio Hotel as much as they did with one Mr. Timberlake is a mystery to us, although we’re pretty certain that, in all fairness to the band, their name doesn’t exactly scream worldwide superstar as much as the former *NSync star.
Then again, Audi’s not really marketing the band as much as they are the car, and in that scenario, they did a pretty good, albeit weird, job doing so.
We know Audi announced that there will no no RS1 in the line-up, but people can hope, no? And after the A1, and the future S1,wehope that the company will also unveil an RS1 version for its smallest hatchback in the line-up. And how the S1 will be unveiled in 2011, lets say the RS1 will be revealed in 2012 as a competitor for the MINI Cooper S JCW.
The future S1 will get a 1.4TFSI with 186 HP and S tronic, the future RS1 will be powered by a new 1.6 TFSI engine that will deliver no less than 245 HP. Now that’s a true city car! And if to this crazy amount of power you add a sportier body and lets say 19" alloy wheels you will definitely get a car you’ll want to drive.
Everything we can do now is fingers crossed and lets just hope Audi will consider a model like this!
The first tuner to offer a tuning package for the Audi A1 small hatchback was ABT Sportsline, and they set the bar pretty high with their three colorful versions. Now, the guys from Senner Tuning are attacking that bar by revealing a new kit that improves both the car’s performance and exterior look.
Thanks to a software optimization kit, the 1.6 TDI engine’s output can be increased from 105 HP to 140 HP. The tuner is also offering a KW-thread suspension with ascertained adjustment possibilities as well as breathtaking Barracuda Voltec T6 light alloy wheels (Real-Chrome and Black-Chrome) of 8x18 inch in diameter with 225/35-18 Hankook S1 Evo
The whole package is completed by a right/left stainless steel sport exhaust system with 1x 90 mm exhaust pipes, an individual leather interior finish, and exclusive accessories made of carbon and leather. And, as an added bonus, Senner will also customize the A1 to the customer’s very specifications.
By now, American fans of the Audi A1 have given up all hope in seeing the premium hatchback in the US after Audi global sales head Peter Schwarzenbauer – try spelling that name – ruled out the A1’s chances of making it to America.
Now, it turns out that there may be a glimmer of hope, albeit a pretty small one. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Schwarzenbauer mentioned that the A1 will eventually be shipped out of Europe into the Chinese market soon with the US market being considered so long as small - and expensive - cars have a chance in the country. Translated, Americans will have to prove to these guys that they’re willing to spend the bucks for a premium hatchback, something that, as history suggests, Americans aren’t prone to doing.
But still, there’s hope, fellas. However long that will take will be entirely up to how the “pricey” compact car segment does in the US. We don’t even know if that’s going to happen in the next few years, but at least the door – no matter how small the crack is – has now been opened.
