Audi Urban Concept City Car first photos

Audi Urban Concept City Car - first photos

It’s hard to know exactly what Audi plans to do with their City Car - the Audi Urban Concept – once they’ve rolled it out to the world at Frankfurt 2011.

Are they planning to put the diminutive electric Audi go-kart in to production? We really don’t know, but if they are, it’s a while away; we’ve been getting e-Tron concepts for an age with no concrete sign of their arrival, so any production Urban Concept from Audi is not going to happen quickly.

Instead, it seems likely that Audi are using the Urban Concept as a way of gauging opinion and developing lightweight know-how with the use of material such as carbonfibre reinforced plastic.

But will people treat the idea of a glorified go-kart – even one with a nice Audi interior and four rings on the bonnet – as a serious mode of transport? Possibly.

Possibly, not because of any great eco-impact but because they may well prove to be an incredibly frugal means of getting around an urban environment, except for one reason – cost.

Even with their light weight – 500kgs or so – and modest range expectations - around 40 miles – the battery cost alone is going to make the Audi Urban Concept cost at least as much as sensible City Cars like the Toyota Aygo or the Kia Picanto.

But Audi are going to town on the Urban Car Concept, with both convertible and coup versions showing up at Frankfurt and lots of photos (well, photo-realistic renderings) of both concepts.

We’ll discover more at Frankfurt.

(20 photos – click any thumbnail for full gallery)

By Cars UK