New A2 Concept Photos

dan_b said:
If you browse through the images you'll see a real in the flesh new Audi A2 with a real human being sitting behind the wheel...
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Cool! Good spot Dan. I like the look of this car (apart from the wrap around light thingy!) but when you see those 2 guys in and beside the car it looks very small in comparison to the original A2. I know its not apples for apples and this is an electric concept - but if its ever going to be in contention to replace our ally pals, surely most would seek a similar all round package of style plus the practicality we currently enjoy.
 
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Might just be some weird zoom lens foreshortening effect, as according to Humps's earlier post it's almost exactly the same size as our existing A2s.

humps said:
The dimensions are apparently 3.8 L x 1.69 W x 1.49 H, which is shorter, narrower but taller than A1. But not by much in any direction. In comparison to our current A2, those dimensions are almost the same, 3826 x 1673 x 1553.
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dan_b said:
Might just be some weird zoom lens foreshortening effect, as according to Humps's earlier post it's almost exactly the same size as our existing A2s.
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Wow! weird indeed unless the Audi dude is 7'6" tall!! :eek:

Good to note its a similar size though -will be interesting to see what its like when it goes into full production.
 
I think he's the world's tallest man. Look how low and small those Lamborghinis look when he's standing next to them - almost Matchbox car sized!
 
I think it looks pretty cool. As you say the really interesting stuff is the drivetrain and whether there will be any non fully-electric versions...
 
http://blogs.insideline.com/straightline/2011/09/2011-frankfurt-auto-show-audi-a2-concept.html

Nice picture of the A2 in the dark showing the side "dynamic light" LEDs, and some nice close-ups of the front of the car.

Wonder if the carbon graphite foam radiators will make it to production? If you're interested in materials science, carbon foam is a better conductor of heat than aluminium which means smaller radiators can be used for the same cooling power, leading to better aerodynamics at the front of the car...
 
dan_b said:
...Wonder if the carbon graphite foam radiators will make it to production? If you're interested in materials science...
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check out the Lambo Sesto Elemento! That is outrageous! Forged carbon fibre construction (even though for 2 million dollars a pop, they could afford a handmade CF tub anyway), may be buyers of this are effectively subsidising mass production of CF chassis that can go in the A2?
 
This looks very good - well done Audi. A car to move the automobile forwards. Now, could it have a range extender LPG generator, and a hydrogen version (surely VAG are now big enough to do a little infrastructure building...)?
Minor negative - the front end is overly aggressive and looks like an angry Pokemon - that's not the image I want to project to other people's rear view mirrors!
Russ
 
I was always told that if you can say nothing nice about something or someone, then say nothing at all.

I'm keeping quiet!

Cheers,

Mike
 
In a word, no!

The overall concept of electric drivetrain powered by lithium ion batteries is yesterdays technology and very unimaginative. The car is too small (regardless of whether we have a 7foot tall bloke in the photos) with little in the way of practicality - nothing in the way of a boot for instance.

The biggest talking point is of some fancy LED lighting (probably resulting from a designer watching Tron once too often) and a laser projected light at the rear (both features will almost certainly never make it to the UK roads) which reminds me of how hi-fi makers used to generate interest in the late 80's, with loads of flashing lights and multi-band graphic equalisers, which in reality were pretty useless!

Carbon/polymer covered ally body? Well when the car weighs more than the original A2, where's the point? The whole ethos of Audi is Vorsprung, or advancement through technology. I can't see the advances here I'm afraid, but clever marketing will doubtless shift units, just like the A1 has done.

The best I can say is that as a first study, it's flawed, very flawed, but there's some merit in actually reviving the A2 idea.

Cheers,

Mike
 
Well, Dan did ask!!

I know that these comments might ruffle a few feathers, both on these pages and with Audi UK too, but I speak as I find and unlike the original A2, which is now widely acknowledged as a car at least a decade ahead of its time, this 'design study' is woeful.

Our A2 pioneered the mass-production of aluminium bodied cars and also was a triumph of packaging - there are still very few cars around that can match the amount of interior storage space for the external dimensions of an A2. It showed that you could have a genuinely luxurious car and a small car in one and the same package, but also that you could have an economical car that handled well and had a fair bit of oompff too.

The 'new A2' is really not worthy of the name - in reality, what have the designers done over the last 6 years since the original was cut from the range? They've had plenty of time to look at the competition, generate various 'e-tron' concepts and then say "right chaps - let's get to work. Let's scrap all that e-tron nonsense, use the tried and tested package of batteries connected to motors, spice it up with a funky looking interior (which we all know will never come about) and cover it with twinkly Xmas baubles in the shape of LEDs."

There is NOTHING that is ground-breaking in this car. LED headlamps? Already an option on the A6. Rechargeable battery driven powerplant? Buy a Nissan. Carbon fibre chassis? Well, let's not get carried away, it's an aluminium chassis with extra bits of carbon and polymer stuck on in various places. Electro-translucent glass? Been around for years.

Please, if anyone from Audi is reading this, can you go back to the drawing board, get a clean sheet of paper and get to work in designing a car that will be to the late 20-teen years what the A2 was to the turn of the century. What do we want? Well, the ability to carry up to 5 people in comfort, with luggage, in a stylish (but timeless designed) package. The car should be able to run off available power sources, forseeable for the next 30-50 years (so that probably means electric drive, powered by some sort of on board generator, whether it be a diesel/biofuel, gas or hydrogen powerplant) and should be geniunely cheap to run, sustainable and fun to drive.

By all means, put some gizmos on the car (on-board broadband and such) and make it easy for the driver to see and be seen (so yes, LED headlights and marker lights).

Please get back to using technology to make progression in car design instead of playing catch up with others (Audi were late to the table with stop/start implementation, late again with recuperation and seemingly now are going to produce an electric car, just when the concensus is that the ones already on the market are white elephants). The original A2 would have been a massive success if it were not for the pricing - so please take note and don't make the same mistakes again. I also want to be able to drive from London to Manchester without having to stop for a few hours to charge the car up, so don't make a car that has to be plugged in every night.

Rant over!

Cheers,

Mike
 
WOW if thats you keeping quiet i hate to see what you post when your on your soap box LOL. Very true words Mike i drive all the latest Audi's, VW's and Skoda's and yes some are nice with some nice features but i still get into my A2 and i don't think i should get rid and buy a A# whatever or a VW whatever

I'll wait to see what the face lift is like

Phil
 
Skipton01 said:
I speak as I find and unlike the original A2, which is now widely acknowledged as a car at least a decade ahead of its time, this 'design study' is woeful.

Our A2 pioneered the mass-production of aluminium bodied cars and also was a triumph of packaging - there are still very few cars around that can match the amount of interior storage space for the external dimensions of an A2. It showed that you could have a genuinely luxurious car and a small car in one and the same package, but also that you could have an economical car that handled well and had a fair bit of oompff too.

The 'new A2' is really not worthy of the name - in reality, what have the designers done over the last 6 years since the original was cut from the range? They've had plenty of time to look at the competition, generate various 'e-tron' concepts and then say "right chaps - let's get to work. Let's scrap all that e-tron nonsense, use the tried and tested package of batteries connected to motors, spice it up with a funky looking interior (which we all know will never come about) and cover it with twinkly Xmas baubles in the shape of LEDs."
Please, if anyone from Audi is reading this, can you go back to the drawing board, get a clean sheet of paper and get to work in designing a car that will be to the late 20-teen years what the A2 was to the turn of the century.
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Emotion not far from the surface there Michael! I dont think it was ever on the cards that we would have a replacement quite as ground breaking as the original. It is unlikely to be their strategy to repeat the same sort of exercise we have all read about that ultimately did not work for the company in terms of profits and was axed prematurely.

Shame really - but Audi as a business/brand will not have the same passion for the term 'A2' that many on this forum do! Whether the new one is worthy of the name remains to be seen when concept becomes reality - I quite like the lines of the car, but have no interest whatsoever in an electric powered vehicle, and despite being a similar size to the original car you would expect a new model to mirror whats happening across the motor industry where cars are getting bigger ( isnt the new Polo bigger than the Golf used to be and just look at Mini!)

As Phil said, I dont think many of us will be trading up when the A2 hits the showrooms. And shame on Audi for striking a raw nerve with perhaps the A2's greatest fan!! ;)
 
It's not really a case of being ground-breaking for the sake of it Murdi - it is (or was) the ethos of what Audi was all about. The reason I bought 2 A2s is that the car was a very clever solution to the problem (that being getting 4 people and or cargo around in style, comfort and economy). I suspect a lot of other owners bought for the same reasons too.

The main reason why the original A2 was seen to be a sales failure by Audi was that they couldn't generate the sort of profit they wanted and a lot of this was down to the production costs - at the time, aluminium construction was costly and involved esoteric methods such as plasma welding. Since then, Audi have mastered the bond/rivet construction (basically, glue and nails!) for other models, such as TT, A5, A6 etc. So if the original A2 was put back into production today (with a few little tweaks to construction), I daresay it would return a profit for VAG.

And as to the size of the new study being similar to the old A2, I very much doubt that what we've seen is a full scale model in that case. I'd say it was around 75-80% scale model. Like the lines? Reminds me very much of an A2 face bolted onto a last generation Fiesta back half.

Oh, and finally, ditch the rectangular steering wheel please - it was never a success for British Leyland!

Cheers,

Mike
 
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