PETER MCKAY – Artist’s illustration of 2013 Audi A2

The original A2 was considered a car ahead of its time, and Audi is set to bring it back – this time with cheaper steel construction.

Audi is expected to revive the A2 hatchback that became famous in the late ’90s for its aluminium construction.

An A2 has become the only obvious gap in Audi’s family of passenger cars, following this week’s launch of the A1 sub-compact car.

The A2 was Audi’s first tilt at a compact car and was sold in Europe between 1999 and 2005, though while it was highly acclaimed it never reached viable sales volumes.

Despite a light kerbweight reducing fuel consumption to as low as 3.0L/100km on one model, and some admirable green values, the A2’s aluminium construction made it too expensive to buy. Five years after production finished, Audi says the A2 is proving popular all over again.

“Many customers are returning to the A2,” said Audi’s head of development dynamics, Dr Horst Glaser. “It is very popular as a used car. It was ahead of its time but now of course everyone is talking about fuel, C02 and lightweight consumption.”

He hints the A2 is not dead and buried. “There is a missing link between the A1 and A3. Who knows?” was Dr Glaser’s enigmatic comment.

The A2, however, is understood to have already been approved for launch by 2013, though switching to steel to keep building costs down.

The second-generation A2 is expected to be offered with various drivetrains including battery-electric only, hybrid and conventional three-cylinder engines.

PETER MCKAY – Artist’s illustration: 2013 Audi Q1

A1 family will expand as Audi chases its 1.5 million annual sales target for 2015.

Audi will produce further variants of its new baby luxury car, the A1, with spin-offs expected to include a cabriolet, hot-hatch and soft-roader.

The German car maker believes the A1 will already help achieve a one million sales target for 2010, claiming it has taken more orders for the pint-sized hatch in the first four weeks than any other model in its history.

A five-door version of the Mini rival, previewed at last year’s Tokyo motor show, will be first to join the three-door A1 hatch that has just been launched in Europe, with the S1 hot-hatch already confirmed for 2011.

The S1 will be powered by the same 1.4-litre turbocharged and supercharged four-cylinder engine as used in the upcoming VW Polo GTI.

The A1 shares its platform with the baby Volkswagen. Audi’s response to a question about a convertible A1 suggests the model is in the pipeline.

“It is not planned but if acceptance of the A1 is as big as we think, a cabrio/convertible will be contemplated,” days Audi’s head of development dynamics, Dr Horst Glaser.

Lips are tight, however, about a rumoured Q1 model that would become the smallest and most affordable of Audi’s range of soft-roaders.

The company already sells the Q5 and Q7, with a Q3 model confirmed to arrive by 2011. The A1 is also packaged to take a petrol-electric hybrid drivetrain if the decision is made to go in this direction.

“Every car company has its own ideas on the future of the motor car,” says Dr Glaser. “But no one really knows the right direction for future power trains.”

Dr Glaser has ruled out a smaller and more affordable Audi we in the foreseeable future. “There is no thinking about a smaller car at the moment.”

PETER MCKAY – Drive heads to Berlin, Germany, to test the world’s smallest luxury car.

Audi’s new sub-compact hatch, the A1 – its first go at a such a small premium car – will certainly get the attention of the 2011 versions of the old inner-city yuppies.

It has the looks and features. And a desirable badge. It’s also a fun drive. The hardest questions they’ll need to ask themselves are what colour and what engine.

Turbo diesels are rightly all the rage, especially among European car makers; their appeal is a usual joyous driveability and of course their frugality at the pump.

But Drive’s choice of the two engines on offer with the A1 when it arrives early next year is definitely the petrol-sipping 1.4-litre turbocharged TFSI version.

Due in large part to the A1’s low weight – 1040kg – the 90kW turbo TFSI petrol engine (which powers the base model Golf locally) is lively enough – and economical, too.

Audi claims its weight is the lowest in the segment. The petrol A1’s claimed zero-100km/h time is a reasonable 8.9 seconds.

That’s hardly rocket-like but it’s handy enough. More importantly, maybe, is the engine’s pleasant drive characteristics, pulling willingly from around 1500 revs (this is a petrol four-cylinder, remember), with peak torque on tap between 1500 and 4000rpm.

It also comes with commendable noise suppression and refinement. We tried the six-speed manual and the seven-speed ‘S-tronic’ dual-clutch automated manual versions and consumption with both was a thrifty 7.4 litres/100km in a mix of 120km/h autobahn driving and heavy city traffic snarls.

The A1 TFSI is pleasantly quiet at 120km/h, too, when the engine is turning over at just 2500rpm in top. On the other hand, the 1.6 TDI turbo diesel feels surprisingly indolent low in the rev band, and doesn’t get percolating until around 1700rpm. It’s also noisy at low speed, though less so at cruising pace.

Its economy is up there with the best in the market. In real-world traffic conditions on a rural and city peak sampling of a five-speed manual TDI, Drive returned 4.2L/100km.

The largely straight and smooth tarmac roads in and around Berlin this week hardly provided definitive answers to the questions Drive was asking about the A1’s ride and handling.

We managed to find a few patchy pieces of road and some cobblestones that suggested that the A1’s ride is nowhere near as punishing on kidneys and teeth fillings as the Mini.

The question of whether the A1 offers premium-level comfort along with sporty handling needs to be determined closer to home in more familiar road conditions.

In the few winding bits we encountered, the little Audi changed direction purposefully with no loss of composure.

Body roll was minimal through the corners and there was no sign of the tendency of some front-wheel-drive cars to understeer or ‘push’.

The electronic limited slip diff, which is part of the ESP (stability control) system, does a fine job of computer-managing any nasty tendencies out of its handling behaviour.

The electro-hydraulic steering is also quite direct. Choosing manual or the S-tronic dual-clutch gearbox is another buyer conundrum.

Manual is more fun; the S-tronic is getting better and better, even in slow-speed situations where in the past it was sometimes bothersome.

The interior seems about A3 size, with good head room. Rear seat passengers can be accommodated with a little compromise.

The sports seats, with adjustable ride height and lumbar, are terrific, with excellent support and comfort. It has a handy functional side, too, with a versatile split-fold rear seat that can be folded flat to open 920 litres of cargo space.

The boot has a lid that can be positioned at two levels, depending on requirements. Beneath the lid is the battery, put there for improved weight distribution.

There is no spare, not even a space-saver. The A1 runs on 15-inch alloys for the Attraction trim level, 16s for the Ambition. 17-inch alloy wheels are optional.

If you’re after a sportier A1, an S1 model is coming next year.