Audi: no city car, but more Q5s
* Audi chief wants bigger Q5 family * Convertible version unlikely, though * Audi city car based on VW Up! also unlikely...
Audi has no plans to introduce a car smaller than next year's Audi A1 supermini, says CEO Rupert Stadler.
That means it won't be joining Seat and Skoda in borrowing the rear-engined, rear-wheel-drive city car platform that VW is developing.
The chassis has been doing the rounds of recent motor shows, in the guise of the VW Up!.
Stadler also said the company won't be looking to build anything more niche or extreme than the Audi R8 supercar that has given the likes of Porsche, Aston Martin and Maserati a wake-up call.
However, he would like to see the Audi Q5 family of compact 4x4s enlarged, which he thinks would be 'a very sensible step', and said he would 'not be against' a high-performance Q5, badged S or RS.
It's unlikely there will be a convertible Q5 like the concept car shown at the Los Angeles motor show last November, though.
'We got positive feedback from that car, but not enough to make us say "let's start it",' he said. 'There would not be sufficient markets interested in taking it.
'I have driven a development model and it feels very different to be sat so high up with the roof open, but it would be too much of a niche car.'
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