It really all comes down to simple arithmetic. Audi wants to add another subcompact model to its range. It already has the A1 supermini and the A3 compact hatch, so if you subtract 1 from 3, you get 2. Add an ‘A’ up front and voila; you have the return of the A2 nameplate.
“There’s clearly room for another product and another concept between the A3 and A1,” Audi CEO Rupert Stadler told journalists on the sidelines of the 2010 Geneva Motor Show.
In a separate interview, Michael Dick, Audi’s board member for technology, added that the firm’s decision to add electric variants to the range will play a vital role with the next-generation A2 “in the near future.”
According to reports, the new A2 will have unique styling and an electric powertrain. At the Geneva Salon, Audi showed the A1 e-tron Concept Study that used a 102HP electric motor to drive the front wheels with a 254cc single-rotor Wankel engine kicking in to charge the lithium-ion batteries when depleted.
And even though some might say that Audi’s decision to use the A2 name doesn’t necessarily mean that the new model will follow in the lines of its commercially unsuccessful predecessor (only 176,377 units were sold between 1999 and 2005), considering the fact that a five-door version of the A1 has already been approved, an MPV-style five-door hatchback sounds like the most logical solution.
An aluminum construction is a different story altogether and we’ll have to wait and see if Audi plans to re-introduce the ASF (Audi Space Frame) concept to a smaller model like the A2.
Via: Autonews (Sub. Req.)
Audi A2 Gallery (1995 – 2005)
