2024 Audi A2 e-tron restomod concept revealed: Iconic hatch turns 25
10/24/2024 09:03 PM
German car maker celebrates 25 years of its cutting-edge A2 by letting its apprentices turn it into a convincing modern-day electric car.
The 2024 Audi A2 e-tron electric city car has been revealed as a one-off restoration concept paying homage to the ultra-frugal 1999 A2 hatchback.
The restomod concept was revealed on social media as the work of Audi apprentices who updated an original A2 with design tweaks and fresh 'e-tron' identity – the name the car maker uses on its battery-electric models.
While Audi says it's purely a show car – with no details of its electric drivetrain – the A2 e-tron shows just how ahead of its time the original was.
The A2 e-tron concept keeps the original A2's overall shape, but unique paintwork is joined by modern elements such as the illuminated four-rings on the grille and in the car's tail lights.
There are also larger alloy wheels in the same style as the 1998 Audi TT and Audi S8 sedan – tributes themselves to Auto Union racers of the 1930s – while the cabin uses the latest Audi sports seats.
Audi says the concept does not signal plans to introduce a small electric city car, the car maker recently winding back its goal to sell only battery-electric cars by 2030 to a revised 80 per cent.
It's not the first electric Audi A2 concept, the German car maker showing an electric version – including fresh styling – at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show before shelving plans for a production run.
Rival BMW followed a somewhat similar idea with its BMW i3 city car in 2013 – but used carbon-fibre and plastic to save weight for its first electric showroom model.
First revealed in 1997 and sold in Europe and the United Kingdom (UK) between 1999 and 2005, the A2 was never sold in Australia but was one of a number of ultra-efficient 'hyper milers'.
Audi developed the A2 as a forward-thinking premium city car, teaming futuristic design with a lightweight five-door aluminium body – which at the time it only offered on its high-priced flagship A8 sedan.
The aluminium panels not only gave the first small Audi a distinctive look – the work of Luc Donckerwolke, now at Hyundai – but with a 0.25 drag-coefficient made it the most aerodynamic production car on sale.
It also helped keep the A2's weight down to 900kg for the 1.4-litre versions, which were offered in four-cylinder petrol and three-cylinder turbo-diesel guises, both making 55kW.
Yet it was the ultra-efficient 1.2-litre version's weight saving and drag-reducing tactics where the A2 philosophy truly shone.
Narrower tyres, a boot spoiler, lighter windscreen glass, wind-up (non-electric) windows and no air-conditioning all helped reduce mass to a lithe 825kg, making its lower 45kW output seem far from inadequate.
The result was the first '3.0-litre' production car – meaning it had an official fuel consumption claim of 3.0L/100km – in the world.
Despite measuring a mere 3826mm long and sitting 1673 mm wide, the inferior packaging was masterful and included a 391L boot – larger than a 2024 Mazda CX-3.
The Audi A2 was a sales flop – costing around 50 per cent more than the top-selling Ford Fiesta at the time and with no three-door version – while expensive aluminium repairs saw minor damage costly.
Yet the ground-breaking car has since gained a cult-following, its edgy design and clever, thought-out premise inside and out making it popular with enthusiasts – and apprentices.
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