New small Audi on the way

Audi is planning to inject a dose of premium into the city car class with a new ‘affordable’ small car.

Under 4 metres long, the compact four-seater will use a modified version of the front-wheel drive Up/Mii/Citigo platform and offer both petrol and electricity as its power source.

Although Audi is billing it as a youth-orientated model, the new car is also likely to excite cool UK urbanites looking for city-friendly transport with a dash of class. The lightweight aluminium A2 offered between 1999 and 2004 was a bold effort but ultimately failed to capture many buyers as it was seen to be too expensive. An A2 replacement floated in 2011 as an electric challenger to BMW’s i3 was canned by Audi in 2013.

The new car is expected to retail for around £15,500 in petrol form, rising to around £25,000 for the electric version. It could appear in concept form at the 2017 Paris show, with a possible launch date of 2019.