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4 Door Audi A1 world premiere at the Paris motor show

A 4-door Audi A1 will premiere at the Paris Motor Show next month.

After showing the A1 Metroproject concept at last year’s Tokyo Motor Show, (we mentioned the Audi a1 recently here ) Audi is reportedly planning to reveal a four-door variant in Paris next month. The production version of the Audi A1 will go into production in 2009 at an Audi factory in Brussels, Belgium. Audi will be targeting the Audi A1 at the premium small car segment to go up against the MINI or FiAT’s Cinquecento.

More information on the  New Audi A1 and other new Audis from the Paris Auto show next month.

Audi A5 Cabriolet First Pictures

Due to be shown at the upcoming Paris car show the Audi A5 Cabriolet has been caught uncloaked under going tests somewhere in the hills of Switzerland.

There have been several computer-illustrations of what the Audi A5 cabriolet will look like (and we mentioned this here) but these new pictures show the Audi A5 Cabriolet completely undisguised, and lay to rest some of the speculation that has been going around. As expected the car is almost identical to the Audi A5 coupe and the choice of a canvas roof over the retractable hard-top is no surprise either.

Under the bonnet it is expected that the same engine line-up as for the Audi A5 coupe will be available with a base 1.8-litre 170bhp four-cylinder petrol engine, followed by a 3.2-litre V6 producing 265bhp. Diesel-lovers can choose between a 2.7-litre with 190bhp and a 3.0-litre V6 TDI with 240bhp.

The Audi A5 Cabriolet is expected to be in UK show rooms some time next year followed by a Audi S5 Cabriolet at a later date.

Audi’s New In- car Entertainment System and Sat Nav

The new Audi MMI system features an integral 4,000-song ‘jukebox’, full remote iPod control and a navigation system that uses a 40Gb hard disk to store navigational data and the audio tracks.

Filip Brabec (General Manager of Product Planning) says:

The biggest revolution probably happened in the navigation portion of the system - the fact that you now have a hard drive. It is a 40 GB hard drive, part of which is used for the navigation data. The navigation data is also much more extended so we have many more points of interest. We also have better categorizations of the points of interest than we had before so now you can look for coffee shops separate from restaurants. 

Audi MMI Features

• Latest generation Multi Media Interface offers the option of a new integral 4,000-track ‘jukebox’ which can download music files via SD card and store them on hard drive
• Combined with optional Audi Music Interface, MMI offers full iPod control via the header unit and displays full track/title information on the in-dash monitor
• Standard DVD playback facility, optional DAB digital radio and TV reception
• Hard drive also contains even more intricately detailed sat nav maps with new 3D ‘digital topographical’ views
• New processors even plot 3 possible routes wherever possible, including one specifically calculated as the most economical

Audi has just broken new ground with an advanced new in-car entertainment system that offers exceptionally easy and intuitive control of iPods, MP3 players and CDs, but actually doesn’t need any of them. With its new integral hard drive, the latest Audi Multi Media Interface (MMI) is capable of storing up to 4,000 tracks internally - more than enough even for long-haul trans-continental holiday journeys.

When MMI is combined with the optional iPod and iPhone compatible Audi Music Interface, the driver can remotely control an iPod or other music storage device using the central MMI control knob with its new built-in ‘joystick’ and the four logically arranged push buttons grouped around it. Full track and title listings are displayed on the sophisticated in-dash screen, and tracks can be scrolled through and selected in much the same way as they are using the iPod itself, earning the system plenty of plaudits already for its clarity, accessibility and ease of navigation.

Features available as part of the latest system also include DAB digital radio reception, analogue and digital TV reception and DVD playback, all through the large in-dash monitor.

The new high-tech hard drive has a total capacity of 40 GB, 10GB of which is given over to the 4,000-song ‘mobile jukebox’ facility that can be loaded using SD memory cards. It also holds satellite navigation data covering the whole of Western Europe, replacing the outgoing system’s already widely acclaimed DVD-based technology.

The new hard disk dramatically enhances the already high quality mapping offered by the Audi Satellite Navigation System Plus, significantly increasing the degree of detail and offering a new 3D ‘digital topographical’ view which gives a pictorial depiction of key landmarks to add even greater ‘context’. Wherever possible it even provides a choice of three routes to a chosen destination, including one that has been specifically calculated to require the least possible consumption of fuel.

The latest generation Multi Media Interface with HDD navigation is now fitted as standard to Audi A8 models, and will be available as an upgrade for the Audi Q7, Audi Q5, Audi A6, Audi A5 and Audi A4 ranges in the near future. The Audi Music Interface enabling iPod connectivity can be added to the system at extra cost. For the optimum listening experience, the new unit can be combined in many models with speaker systems from Bang & Olufsen offering up to 1,000 watts of music power. 

Audi A1 – The new super mini on the block

We are all getting more environmentally conscious these days and it seems that Audi has recognised this market with this new Audi A1 model.

Audi’s latest baby is the A1, a small car aimed squarely at the entry level of the market. It will compete directly with the likes of the Seat Ibiza, VW Polo and of course the Mini. The Audi A1 will use the VW group’s MQB modular transverse engineering package and there will be three different body styles: a chunky three-door hatch, a roomier five-door and an open-top model.

The Audi A1 has a choice of engines as promised 1.2 & 1.4 litre petrol, 1.6 & 2.0 litre diesel, and a 1.4L petrol/electric hybrid version, as well as a MacPherson strut front suspension arrangement and four-link independent rear suspension.
The Audi A1, officially (and somewhat grandiosely) called the Metroproject Quattro, will go on sale in early 2009 and is expected to debut in production form at the Paris Motor Show next year.