Audi A2 Supermini Confirmed, First Model to Come in 2011

The over-discussed Audi A2 supermini is again making the headlines as the German car manufacturer confirmed the first concept is ready for the public unveiling. However, the company hasn't released specific details on the show to witness the launch, but confirmed that the production version won't arrive sooner than 2011.

The car is already on display inside Audi's Ingolstadt heaquarters, R&D chief Michael Dick said according to autocar.co.uk.

Speaking of the design of the new model, Dick said the upcoming A2 will "be recognisable as an A2 but very different from the old car”, with the car mostly designed within the company. “We will not make the same mistake as with the first A2 and do it all by ourselves,” he said.

Together with the normal combustion engine, Audi will also introduce an electric version of the new A2 that would better match the current difficult market conditions, providing a very low fuel consumption and reduced CO2 emissions.

“We also want to build an electric version straight away. That has consequences. At the moment you think up a car and make it electric afterwards. With that car [the A2], things go the other way around," Michael Dick confirmed.

Audi says the new A2 won't be based on the Volkswagen Up platform, with the resulting model to be bigger than the Up, "at least as big as the A1, but with a different body style," as Dick explained.

“For Audi and its ‘Vorsprung durch technik’ philosophy the Up would only work if it was electric,” he said. “It would have to be different from the VW and would clearly have to be premium. We are looking with interest to Toyota and what it is doing with the iQ. It also wants to be premium.”