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The incredible story of the Audi A1

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The incredible story of the Audi A1

After a long time in which the Audi A3 was the access vehicle to the Audi range (with a period in which the advanced A2 held the position), the Audi A1 became the gateway to the German premium brand. This is his story.

We are dealing with a very young model, which saw the light for the first time in 2010 and whose objective was to open a gap among premium cars in the B segment, such as the Mini, seeking a young audience with a medium/high purchasing power.

The result was a utility vehicle that transferred Audi’s design language at that time to the small format, achieving a very successful image, with an athletic silhouette and eye-catching details such as the contrasting pillars.

It was 3.95 meters long, weighed slightly more than a ton and offered interior space for four people, as well as a 267-litre boot, which could be expanded to 920 by folding down the rear seats. The passenger compartment transmitted quality and was a clear example of the beginnings of digitization at that time, in which everything analog continued to predominate.

Initially, it had a fairly limited range of engines with low and medium power. It had two versions of the 1.6 diesel with 90 and 105 hp, as well as two gasoline versions, a 1.2 TFSI with 86 hp and a 1.4 TFSI with 122 hp. However, later the range would be completed with a 185 hp block, with the 231 hp S1 version… and with the Audi A1 quattro.

Audi A1 quattro

The icing on the cake of the first generation was this radical version that was born in the form of a limited edition: only 333 units were manufactured and today they have risen in value, as expected.

Its aesthetics were imposing and seemed taken from the rally world: specific bumper with huge air intakes, 18-inch white wheels with turbine design, rear spoiler crowning the roof and an aggressive diffuser with two exhaust outlets.

It was just a foretaste of its mechanics: a 2.0 TFSI four-cylinder engine that developed 256 hp and 350 Nm of maximum torque was hidden under the hood. It was combined with a six-speed manual gearbox and, how could it be otherwise, with a quattro drive system. It accelerated from 0 to 100 km/h in 5.7 seconds and its top speed was 250 km/h.

Second generation

The easiest way to explain what happened here is that the Audi A1 got older. Its second generation (launched in 2018) was a leap towards maturity, growing in size, interior space and gaining a more serious image and greater presence.

It was over 4 meters long, the passenger compartment, although tight, could accommodate three people in the rear row of seats and its aesthetics inherited mythical features of the brand, such as the three thin air intakes on the hexagonal grille.

It also took a step forward in terms of engines, such as a more powerful and wide mechanical range from the beginning, although dispensing with the diesel: 1.0 TFSI with 95 hp and 115 hp, 1.5 TFSI with 150 hp and 2.0 TFSI with 200 hp.

An SUV test

A year after its launch, Audi dared to offer a ‘suveizado’ variant of the model, the Audi A1 Citycarver, which opted for the typical formula: add plastic protections to the underbody, aluminum reinforcements on the bumpers and increase the distance free to the ground, in this case 40 mm.

With these changes, it did not take the place of a hypothetical Audi Q1, but it presented an alternative for the utility vehicle that sported an even more muscular aesthetic.

Of course, the journey of the Audi A1 has been short, and it is that the brand confirmed in 2021 that it will not take over. There will not be a model that will take its place directly, but Audi pointed out that the urban segment will be electric territory.

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