The Audi A2 The name will return on the tailgate of a new electric hatchback that will be placed underneath it Audi Q4 etron in terms of size and price in the range of the German luxury brand.
According to CoachThe new electric hatchback will replace the A1 hatchback Question 2 small SUV – both scheduled to end production in 2026 – and get the badge as the ‘Audi A2 etron‘.
The automaker has not yet officially announced the new electric vehicle (EV), and there is no confirmation it will be offered in Australian showrooms after the expected European launch in 2027.
A heavily disguised test mule, believed to be the A2 e-tron, has been spied several times while driving around Germany’s famous Nürburgring circuit.
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Based on the same underpinnings as the Volkswagen ID.3 electric hatchback – which is not sold in Australia – the A2 e-tron will not be a conventional hatchback, according to Coachinstead, the lines between a hatchback and a small SUV are blurred.
The ID.3 uses the Volkswagen Group’s MEB platform – also used by the electric hatchback Cupra Born and the Volkswagen ID.4 And ID.5 mid-size electric SUVs – has a 400 V electrical system and a single electric motor driving the rear wheels, with power ranging from 125 kW to 210 kW for the performance flagship GTX.
Battery sizes in the ID.3 range between 58 kWh and 79 kWh, good for a WLTP driving range of up to 595 km.
It is suggested that the starting price for the reborn Audi A2 will be around £30,000 ($A58,500), or slightly more than the current Q2, which costs around £28,000 ($A54,680) in Britain, but considerably less than the larger Audi Q4 e-tron, which has a UK starting price of around £47,000 ($A91,784).
In Australia, the Q2 currently costs $49,400 before on-road costs, while the Q4 e-tron starts at $84,900 before on-road costs.
The original Audi A2 was a cutting-edge, ultra-efficient city hatch sold in Europe, with 176,377 units sold between 1999 and 2005, but it was never officially sold in Australia.
The small hatch was 3.83 meters long, 1.67 meters and 1.55 meters high, and its aerodynamic, wind-cheating bodywork was made of weight-saving aluminum, making it one of several economical city cars developed for the European market at the time.
Its 1.2-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine achieved an official combined consumption of just 2.9 l/100 km, making the original A2 the most economical five-door production car at the time. A 1.4-litre diesel was also offered, as well as 1.4- and 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engines.
Other efficiency-oriented models of the era included the Volkswagen Lupo and later the wild looking one VolkswagenXL1 hypermiler – neither of which were sold in Australia – which was officially classified as a one-litre car with a claimed consumption of just 0.9L/100km.
A one-litre research version of the first A2 was also developed, although it never went into production.
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