New Audi A2 revealed as ultra-efficient EV with 400-mile range
Helping the new A2 in that endeavour are a raft of wind-cheating and loss-mitigating design features that go well beyond the characteristically slippery silhouette, which draws on the original A2.
The underside is almost entirely closed off, for example, while the wheel arches are fitted with gap reducers that minimise the space between wheel and bodywork to reduce as much as possible any underbody turbulence on the move. The wheels themselves are newly developed ‘aero’ designs and even the door handles have been styled to cut through the air as cleanly as possible, hence the unusual wing-shaped design.
Audi claims a drag coefficient of 0.24, which is better than even the sloping-roofed Sportback version of the Q4 E-tron. It makes the A2 as slippery as the Lucid Gravity, BMW iX3 and Polestar 5.
The interior is a departure from the cockpit treatment of Audi’s other current. models, with a striking stepped dashboard, liberal use of a new recycled fabric called Softwrap and an overt focus on placing. controls “where they are most useful in daily driving” – which means the steering column and wheel host the bulk of the switches and buttons. The door handies feature haptic touch sensors in place of protruding levers or buttons, and each door has its own energy supply so they can be opened even if the car loses power.
There’s a new panel behind the steering wheel to accommodate functions that would otherwise be housed on the centre console, including the handbrake, and the A2 is the latest Audi to adopt the new indicator switch that made its debut on the Q3. But the company nonetheless emphasised that all the lighting controls still “work in the usual way”.
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