Reports say the new Audi A1 will be made without the all wheel drive Quattro technology we’ve come to know as synonymous with the Audi brand. Front wheel drive will now be favoured on the A1, and the sportier S1 and RS1 will also have front wheel drive. The A1 Coupé should debut at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show, ready for an August market debut in Europe.

The A1 will be Audi’s competitive offering at the smaller end of the premium market, with a plan to produce 90,000 vehicles a year. What’s more, Audi believes that between the A1 and the A3, there is rooom for an “environmental” A2 model, all of which is aimed at getting Audi back into smaller models.

The sporty Audi S1 model should appear later, possibly in February 2011, and an A1 cabrio model is planned for 2012. Will it be successful or will the market miss the AWD Quattro technology too much? It seems that Audi can still bet on removing the Quattro in favour of a lighter and less expensive car, but it will depend on whether that’s what the market wants from the popular brand. In the pics is the Audi Metroproject Quattro concept.

Source | Autobild and GermanCarBlog

Continue reading: No Quattro for Audi A1: plans revealed

In a nostalgic video, Autocar takes a look at the original Audi Quattro, comparing it with today’s Audi TT RS. It’s an instructional video where we can learn about why the Quattro was revolutionary at the time, and how Audi has lead the way since in four wheel drive road models. Daily, all wheel drive options are something we often take for granted now, but for the historic lesson behind this, watch the video.

Continue reading: Audi TT RS vs the original Audi Quattro

Rumours about a diesel TT from Audi have been doing the rounds for a while, but now it’s official: the 2008 Geneva Auto Show will see the debut of the Audi TT TDI Quattro.

The small coupe from Ingolstadt will get the 2.0 common rail TDI engine, a turbodiesel engine that produces 170 ps and has a torque of 170 Nm between 1,750 and 3,500 rpm.

Performance data is nothing to crow about, with a top speed of 226 km/h (223 km/h for the roadster) and a sprint from 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) in 7.5 seconds (7,3 s for the roadster). Fuel consumption, on the other hand, is something to crow about, with an average of just 5,3 liters/100 km (44.4 mpg) on the combined EU cycle (5.5 liters for the roadster). CO2 emissions are just 140 g/km.

Continue reading: It's official: Audi TT TDI Quattro

Recently, both Audi and BMW have shown their interest to produce small cars, even though their model range is made of luxury sedans, big SUVs and fast supercars.

Audi showed last week the Metroproject quattro at the Tokyo Motor Show, a concept car that foreshadows the looks of the next Audi A1. It will arrive on the market in late 2009 and its rivals will be cars such as the Mini Cooper or the future BMW supermini. The three-door variant is likely going to be followed by a five-door version and a convertible one.

Motor Authority published these two renderings in which the cabrio and 5-door variants keep many of the concept’s details, such as the aluminium arches and the LED headlights. The 18″ alloy wheels are unlikely to be kept for the production version.

Continue reading: Audi A1 cabriolet and five-door: first renderings

Audi will be showing tomorrow in Shanghai the Audi Cross Coupé Quattro, a sporty SUV concept car that (probably) anticipates the upcoming Q5.

The Cross Coupé is typically Audi, with a chromed single frame grill, à-la Allroad Quattro, with sporty proportions that somewhat recall the Roadjet Concept, large 20″ wheels and an electrically operated folding fabric roof.

The engine is a new common-rail 2.0-liter TDI engine, with power output of 204 ps and 400 Nm of torque. Is it chance that it has the exact same performance data as the recently announced 2.0-liter 4 cylinder bi-turbo engine from BMW ? This new engine also has a particulate filter and Bluetec system to reduce soot and NO_x emissions.

The Quattro permanent four wheel drive system is governed by a Haldex clutch, while the gearbox is the S-Tronic dual-clutch robotic transmission. The text of the Audi press release follows below the fold. (Audi Cross Coupe Quattro image gallery)

Continue reading: The Audi Cross Coupé Quattro Concept