Audi A1 Won't Make It To U.S. Until Second Gen "At The Earliest"
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2011 Audi A1 S-Line
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It's coming to the U.S. No wait, it isn't. Wait, maybe it is. Oh, sorry, no, it's not. So far, that's the story of the 2011 Audi A1, though by the time it reaches the U.S., if it ever does, it'll likely be 2015 or later. When it comes to European hatches, we Americans have to look for the silver lining.
In this case, the silver lining is that we're being considered for the car at all. Sure, we have the new Fiesta and Mazda2, and the Fiat 500 is due by the end of the year. But Audi's A1 is generally perceived as something special in its class by the Europeans that have driven it, and that's saying something considering the hatch-dense market they live in.
The news that the U.S. is being considered comes from a highly credible source, a Bloomberg interview with Peter Schwarzenbauer, Audi's sales head. In the interview, Schwarzenbauer says the Audi A1 will expand beyond Europe to China soon, but the U.S. will have to wait until "small and expensive" cars have a chance. That translates to the car's second generation at the earliest.
We're not particularly enthused to hear we won't be getting the first-gen A1, or about the wait for the second generation, but them's the breaks of living in a country where large and cheap is still the rule of the day.
Check out our previous coverage for the full story on the current 2011 Audi A1.
[Bloomberg]
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By Roy Posted: 8/26/2010 7:48am PDT
And there was me thinking that Audi wanted to capture some of the success of BMW's Mini, Honda's Fit, and even Smart's 42. No, no, it turns out they've been looking to the baby Lexus as their barometer. But the baby Lexus target market must be 75 years old, while I'm sure Audi must be targeting a younger buyer with the A1.
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