Audi has radically altered the execution of its second-generation A2, shifting it up from the supermini class to turn it into a Golf-sized hatch.
Previewed in what Audi boss Rupert Stadler described as “near to production-ready form” at last year’s Frankfurt show, the new high-roof hatchback is set to grow beyond the 3.8m-long supermini concept to a Volkswagen Golf-sized 4.1m.
As a result, it will sit on a bigger version of the Volkswagen Group’s MQB platform to that originally envisaged, according to well placed sources at the company’s Ingolstadt headquarters.
Insiders also suggest that the production version of the A2, due out in 2014, has grown around 60mm taller, extending beyond the 1490mm of the concept to around 1550mm.
The change comes after criticism of the concept in styling clinics, with potential customers suggesting it did not provide sufficient load-carrying capacity. “There is a difference in what our engineers had envisaged and what customers consider important in everyday use,” Autocar was told.
Audi won’t comment on speculation that the A2 will share its underpinnings with the upcoming Q2, but given that they both share the same basic dimensions, such a move can’t be ruled out.
