2019 Audi A1 Still Testing at the Nurburgring, Despite Recent Reveal

German automakers usually put a car on sale within a few months of the reveal, if not immediately. So to see the A1 Sportback still in heavy camo at this time is a bit strange.

Judging from the twin exhaust tips on the left of the car, we are dealing with the A1 40 TFSI, and if there's one version that needs to handle well, it's that one. We're talking about a copy of the new VW Polo GTI, minus the hot hatch aspirational design.

Under the hood is a 2-liter turbo engine with 200 horsepower and 320 Nm of torque, hooked up exclusively to a 6-speed twin-clutch gearbox. The brakes, suspension, and electronics are all tuned for sportiness, and this is the only A1 model with visible exhaust tips.

How fast is that? Well, the Polo GTI recently went up against several small hot hatches, including the MINI JCW, Yaris GRMN, and Fiesta ST. It did surprisingly badly, but in isolation, it's still pretty fast.

Most customers don't care how fast their supermini is or if it was tested at the Nurburgring. That's why the new A1 is all about small 1-liter engines and brightly colored interior trim.

Another possibility is that we're dealing with an early S1 test mule. Reports have been talking about this model since before the new generation A1 came out, so we wouldn't be surprised to see a 250 horsepower version.

Audi will probably want to fit that model with a new independent rear suspension setup since that's what they need for quattro. What, you didn't know Audis came with torsion beams as well? Yes, the A3 base models have them.