Audi Q1: Official sketches

Audi has finally released concept sketches for the car everybody knows is coming.

The German premium car-maker will show its Q1 baby crossover during the Detroit motor show in January ahead of bringing the car into production late in 2015.

The sketches reveal a two-door machine that will show the evolution of Audi’s single-frame grille for the next generation of family SUVs.

The Q1, which will be built in Ingolstadt, will take a visual step towards production from the three-door Audi Crosslane concept from last year’s Paris motor show.

It will give Audi an entry-level SUV, based off the same MQB architecture as used in the A3 and available as either as a front-wheel drive or, with the S3’s Haldex differential in place, an all-wheel drive.

The Q1 will flesh out Audi’s SUV or crossover range to six, including the Q3, Q5, Q7 and the A4 and A6 Allroads. But there is more to come, with Audi planning a swoopier Q6 coupe-style crossover to compete with BMW’s X6 and Q8 to sit above it, while it has yet to rule out the possibility of a smaller, similarly styled Q4 sporty crossover.

Audi has long thought that it was too conservative with the Q3’s styling, so it’s determined not to let the Range Rover Evoque keep the small crossover design mantle to itself and will stretch the taut lines of the Q1 until near bursting point.

The sketches show a two-door Q1 with pillarless side glass and more ground clearance than the Crosslane, though that seems at least partly because it rides on what look like 40-inch wheels and tyres.

Audi calls it a systematic development of its SUV design language and insists it combines a Shooting Brake-style body with design elements from future Audi sports cars (meaning the TT).

The 4.2-metre long SUV will have short overhangs at both ends and Audi says it will ride on 19-inch rims.

It will use a similar set of powertrains to the A1, even though it won’t share the small hatch’s chassis architecture. That means it will begin with a 1.4-litre, four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine, complete with cylinder deactivitation to save fuel, along with a 1.6-litre turbo-diesel.

The Crosslane concept used a 1.5-litre, turbocharged three-cylinder engine and using MQB architecture (the A1 uses the older Volkswagen Polo underpinnings) means it will have access to a huge range of electrification options.

The Q1 will be able to easily swallow the plug-in hybrid system in the upcoming A3 e-tron, and then there is the full-electric option from the upcoming Volkswagen e-Golf.

Read the latest news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...

Don't forget to register to comment on this article.