Audi butches A1 up for city assault

While initially expected to have carried the allroad moniker, the citycarver is only available with front-wheel-drive and differentiates itself from the standard A1 by virtue of a 35 mm gain in ride height, a matt black honeycomb grille, side and wheel arch cladding, satin silver front and rear skidplates, citycarver badges as the base of the rear doors and a restyled rear bumper.

Riding as standard on 16-inch alloy wheels, the citycarver’s interior is largely carried over from its sibling in that it offers the choice of three trim levels; base, Advanced and S line, with features, either optional or standard, consisting of the 10.1-inch MMI Navigation Plus infotainment system, the 10.25-inch Virtual Cockpit Display instrument cluster and a 560-watt Bang & Olufsen 3D sound system.

Safety tech meanwhile includes Adaptive Cruise Control, Pre Sense with Pedestrian and Cyclist Detection, Park Assist and Lane Departure Warning. As part of the optional Dynamic pack, the citycarver gets red brake calipers, the Audi Dynamic Select system with four modes (Efficiency, Auto, Dynamic and Individual), adjustable dampers and 19-inch alloy wheels.

Surprisingly, no technical details were released, although chances are that the citycarver will get the same engines as the A1 that ranges from a 70 kW 1.0 TFSI to 147 kW 2.0 TFSI teamed to either a six-speed manual gearbox or a seven-speed S tronic.

In Europe, sales of the A1 citycarver will commence in the Spring with order books opening next month, however, seeing as the regular A1 is not yet available in South Africa, don’t expect the citycarver to arrive until next year if given the green light.

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