Audi hopes its new A1 will introduce new customers to the brand, which it will then attempt to retain as Audi customers.
The car is aimed at 25-35 year olds who may not have considered an Audi before. “We’re confident that we’ll be able to delight these customers with the new A1, said Audis sales and marking boss Peter Schwarzenbauer, “so that they will stay with the Audi brand and will later want to drive our larger models.”
Audi said the A1 will be available with technology from its larger models, including the A8. This will include fuel-saving technology such as stop-start and brake energy recuperation, along with what the firm describes as “infotainment items… otherwise only found in luxury class models.”
The firm hopes to sell 80,000 A1s in the car’s first full year of production, which will be 2011. Schwarzenbauer said that what Audi terms the sub-compact segment is predicted to grow by 30 per cent in Germany alone by 2015.
The A1 will be revealed at the beginning of February, and launched at the Geneva motor show in March.
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