New Audi A1 (concept) & AudiPhone

After over a year, Audi finally decided to reveil its A1 concept, a future rival to BMW’s Mini and Volvo’s C30. Expect the A1 to be an instant hit with female car owners because of the cuteness of the baby-shoe shape. Scratch that, let’s call it a “meanie” with it’s slanted, frowning headlights.

Power from the “Meanie” is on par with the Mini thanks to an additional electric motor mounted on the rear axle delivering 41 HP and up to 147 lb.ft of torque on top of the 150 HP provided by the 1.4 L TSFI engine in the front.

Audi also uses a clever trick of brake energy regeneration, which Audi claims decreases fuel consumption by 15%.

The A1 will be unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show along with a neat little device called the AudiPhone (notice the “iPhone” in “AudiPhone“). This device will act as a phone, MP3 player, GPS navigation system, but more interstingly, as remote-car-started, a car-finder (for when you can’t find your car in a big parking lot), and as a storage device (for pictures taken from the onboard cameras).

The device looks like a prototype too. We’ll have to wait until the Tokyo show to get more details about those two cool products.

[Source : AutoBlog]

High-resolution pictures :

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