Audi Plans Fiat 500 Rival
Audi is preparing to make a small four-seater city car in the near future, that will be ready by 2019, approximately. The compact car will be offered with a petrol engine as well as in an electric version.
This city car shall be sub-four metre in length and will be positioned below the A1. It is expected to compete with the Fiat 500, which has been a success internationally and also compete with the likes of Smart Forfour and the Vauxhall Adam. Also, with the electric motor, it will challenge other electric cars like BMW i3, Renault Zoe and Nissan Leaf. This city car is currently under development at Audi’s headquarters in Germany and is based on the NSF (New Small Family) platform of Volkswagen, which also underpins the Volkswagen Up and Skoda Citigo.
With electric cars fast gaining acceptability and also deemed as the future of automobiles, Audi is now keen on developing an electric variant too, something it had shelved a few years back, owing to high costs involved in using lithium ion battery technology.
Just like the VW Up, Audi maybe making two body styles which will be a basic three-door and a five-door hatchback. An adventure version of the same is also under discussion, which will get body claddings and a higher ground clearance. The car will be powered by a new 1.0-litre turbocharged engine and the electric version will use the same drivetrain of the electric VW Up. There will not be any diesel version for this car and neither any hybrid version too. The car will remain a front-wheel drive one as the platform does not support an all-wheel-drive (quattro) mechanism.
The city car is expected to make a debut at the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show.
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