Audi Q1 to target young buyers

Audi has given more insight into its entry in the emerging city-sized SUV market – the upcoming Q1.

The German company has confirmed it will be added to the range in 2016 but other details remain sketchy. At the launch of the updated A1 range in Monaco this week Audi executives, however, did give away some clues of what to expect with its latest compact SUV.

"It's supposed to be a young car too," admitted Lisa Heyne, who handles product marketing for the A1 range. That will mean, like the new A1 which is available in more than 1 million variations, a plethora of customisation options.

The Q1, as the name suggests, is set to be closely aligned with the A1 hatch with Heyne also revealing they will have "similar construction" but stopping short of confirming exactly what will underpin the Q1.

It is expected that the Q1 will share its underpinnings with Volkswagen's new Taigun that will also join the expanding range of city-sized SUVs.

Heyne did indicate that the Q1 is likely to share the A1's new range of engines that includes Audi's first three-cylinder engine – a 1.0-litre turbo petrol and a 1.4-litre turbo diesel.

The Q1 will also like utilise the A1's 1.4-litre and 1.8-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol engines and its 1.6-litre turbo-diesel.

As previously reported, the Q1 is on target to launch in Europe in 2016. Audi Australia is hopeful that it can get the car on sale locally by the end of the same year but spokeswoman Anna Burgdorf admitted it was too early to lock in local timing.

Heyne also played down any suggestions of further expansion to the A1 family, dismissing the prospects of the previously rumoured A1 Cabriolet.