There WILL BE A NEW A2: 2008!!!!

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Johann

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There WILL BE a new A2 in 2008!!!!!!!!! Audi finally saw sense!

From: Automotive News Europe



GENEVA -- Audi will launch a radically different A2 successor by 2008. The car will be aimed directly at BMW's Mini.

"When we look at this segment it is clear there are a lot of customers who want a car below the A3," Audi Chairman Martin Winterkorn said in an interview at the Geneva auto show. "Mini has done well with its car. It has become more and more apparent there is demand there."

Audi sources said the next-generation steel-body A2 will arrive by 2008 and will be based on the front-wheel-drive Volkswagen Polo small car. The A2 may offer all-wheel drive. Winterkorn said the A2 will closely resemble the Shooting Brake concept shown last autumn at the Tokyo auto show.

The new A2 will have "that kind of style," Winterkorn said. "More emotion, more sportiness. A real eye-catcher that can become an icon."

The first A2 was shown as the A12 concept at the 1997 IAA in Frankfurt. Audi started selling the production version in 2000 and marketed it as the first volume car with an all-aluminum structure.

But it was E1,000 per unit more expensive to manufacture than a steel-body car and sold poorly.

By 2003, Audi had decided not to replace the A2 at the end of its life cycle. Production ended in mid-2005. Only 22,028 units were sold in western Europe in 2004, down from a peak of 51,813 units in 2001.

The new A2 is part of an Audi product offensive to raise its lineup to 40 models by 2015, up from 22. A new A2 also will heighten competition in the sales race between BMW and Audi.

Audi has publicly said it wants to sell 1.4 million vehicles globally by 2015, up from 829,109 in 2005. In 2003, the BMW group said it wanted to increase the company's global sales to 1.4 million vehicles by 2008.

But BMW says it is not concerned about competition from Audi.

"The average revenue per car for Audi in 2004 was E21,000. For BMW it was E35,000 -- including Mini," BMW Chairman Helmut Panke said at the Geneva auto show. "Audi is playing in the junior league as far as revenue per car is concerned."
 
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I dont mind it being steel or based upon the VW Polo. But equally don't expect customers to pay 16k for it. It's good news all in all, giving customers more choice. I hope they offer a greater range of engines in the UK, than they did for the current A2.
 
Yeah, seen this somewhere last week.
I had an A3 for a courtesy car yesterday.......Pants :D So much prefer my A2 :)
 
From the pictures Audi will move away from the well packaged, spacious body style of the aluminium A2 to a MINI or worse, it looks like a Suzuki clone. Gone will be the "Tardis" effect of small exterior dimensions and spacious interior. Also the MINI is an icon, even the new version has appeal for some. Not sure that the new A2 will have that, the original A2 stood for something quite different. Be sure that £16K will be a minimum target price for Audi. The current MINI has an expensive options list and there are not too many basic versions around. Audi will have to work hard to match MINIs success.

A shame it will be made from steel as well. The original A2 will be hard to beat in many ways. Radical and advanced, even green (god I did write that!). Prefer my A2 everytime.
 
That picture is the next TT!!!!!!!!! Why on earth they posted it there in the article I will never know... Apart from the fact that perhaps maybe that Shooting Brake TT shape will be more or less the same for the 3 door A2 (as stated in the article)... It won't look anything like that in 5 door form (I hope)...
 
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How can they call it an A2. From my understanding it will be nothing like the one we own. Surely in order for it to be an A2 it needs to be a car that incorporates the design ethos of the original.

The A2 is in my view a design classic in terms of its distinctive looks, its clever design and contruction to produce a very roomy interior in such a small envelope and the use of aluminium on a regular production model. Its short lived livespan only adds to its status as a unique car.

To bring out a new one that is nothing like the original will only serve to devalue what is a unique marque.

Please give the new one a different name Audi!!!! :(
 
This week's AutoExpress magazine claims it will be called the A1 and will only be a three door... So I don't think we need to worry just yet about the A2 philosophy changing.
 
A bit to late for us now wh have bought a mercedes A class coupe july last year.
As I still liked the A2 audi i look at these pages now and than I doubt it if this car is gonna be a succes as it is not a replica like the beetle or the mini,a lot wil go about the quality or the price.
 
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