Tuesday 15th June 2010

Fast Audi A1s Could Be On The Way

Audi 'exploring performance options' for A1

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Remember the Quattro-liveried Audi A1 concept from a month or so back? Well it seems Audi does, and a fast A1 might be more than just a concept - folks at Ingolstadt are investigating the possibilities for a hot version of its baby hatchback.

PH editor Chris-R is currently in Berlin on the Audi A1 press launch, and has phoned up the PH office with the intriguing news that the all-wheel drive hardware from the Audi A3 - and its faster four-cylinder engines - could fit into the A1.

"We are definitely exploring some of these performance options," Said Lars Adler, head of A1 product marketing, to Chris-R, "but first we have to be confident that a market exists."

The transverse four-cylinder engines from the 'A' (Audi A3) platform will drop into the AO (Audi A1) platform with little trouble, although the quattro all-wheel-drive system would have to be adapted to fit the supermini - although Audi knows it could be done.

Don't go heading down to your local Audi dealer to pop a deposit down on a 208bhp, four-wheel-drive A1 2.0T just yet though. Even if it does happen, fast A1s will take at least four years to get to market.

[dr_rallye]

It'd be a very interesting proposition if they manage to get this into production. There's already been talk of an S1, but this opens up the scope for an RS1. I'd be interested in one of those...