Photo: Reichel Car Design
Three years ago, the four-ringed automaker from Ingolstadt revealed the AI:ME concept in Shanghai to a lukewarm reception. “Too few Audi-esque design traits” and “not realistic enough” were the biggest complaints, but nevertheless, the German company is eyeing a production car based on it.
Audi has recently pulled the plug on the A1 and Q2 due to woeful sales, which is why a small electric vehicle in the spirit of the A2 has been mooted since February 2021. Back then, big kahuna Markus Duesmann told British motoring publication Autocar.co.uk: “I like the A2. Certainly we discuss this segment as well. So, it might be an A2 or an E2, or an A3 or an E3.”
The smallest electric vehicle currently offered by Audi is a premium-oriented crossover utility vehicle dubbed Q4 e-tron. Almost 4.6 meters long, this fellow could use a little brother, although it remains to be seen how little. Using the shorter, low-cost version of the MEB platform could backfire in the sense that a watered-down Audi won’t sell as well as its Volkswagen Group twins from Volkswagen, Skoda, SEAT, and SEAT's Cupra marque.
An electric vehicle, slightly smaller than the A3 Sportback, may fare better, yet Audi’s executives are keeping their lips tightly shut in regard to the finest of details. The AI:ME concept, for reference, is 4.3 meters long.
Speculatively rendered by pixel artist Bernhard Reichel in an eye-popping shade of green, the design study before your eyes wouldn’t look out of place in the automaker’s future lineup. As far as the underpinnings are concerned, Audi may very well borrow the front-mounted electric motor and 57-kWh battery of the Volkswagen ID. Life concept from IAA Mobility 2021.
The only alternative would be rear- or dual-motor MEB underpinnings from the Q4 e-tron, which are too expensive for the segment of the A2/E2 in the automaker’s lineup. Given these circumstances, the MEB eco platform seems to be the right call for the indirect successor of the A1 and Q2.
The smallest electric vehicle currently offered by Audi is a premium-oriented crossover utility vehicle dubbed Q4 e-tron. Almost 4.6 meters long, this fellow could use a little brother, although it remains to be seen how little. Using the shorter, low-cost version of the MEB platform could backfire in the sense that a watered-down Audi won’t sell as well as its Volkswagen Group twins from Volkswagen, Skoda, SEAT, and SEAT's Cupra marque.
An electric vehicle, slightly smaller than the A3 Sportback, may fare better, yet Audi’s executives are keeping their lips tightly shut in regard to the finest of details. The AI:ME concept, for reference, is 4.3 meters long.
Speculatively rendered by pixel artist Bernhard Reichel in an eye-popping shade of green, the design study before your eyes wouldn’t look out of place in the automaker’s future lineup. As far as the underpinnings are concerned, Audi may very well borrow the front-mounted electric motor and 57-kWh battery of the Volkswagen ID. Life concept from IAA Mobility 2021.
The only alternative would be rear- or dual-motor MEB underpinnings from the Q4 e-tron, which are too expensive for the segment of the A2/E2 in the automaker’s lineup. Given these circumstances, the MEB eco platform seems to be the right call for the indirect successor of the A1 and Q2.
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