What Car? Award for Audi A1 even before launch

The centre of attention for car enthusiasts this year will be the Audi A1 according to the readers of What Car? Magazine, an overwhelming majority of whom voted to crown the forthcoming Audi compact the ‘most exciting car of 2010’, and in the process secured its first major magazine award.

The ‘Reader Award – Most Exciting Car’, collected last night in London at the 2010 What Car? Awards, went to the A1, or more accurately the A1 concept symbolised by the 2007 A1 project quattro design study, because it received the most votes in an online poll of readers of the magazine’s online edition whatcar.com.

Due to be unveiled in its final, production-ready form at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show in early March, the new A1 will condense, rather than dilute, the essence of Vorsprung durch Technik into a more compact, city-friendly package that will appeal as much to younger aspirants to the premium sector as to core Audi customers. The first recipients from that wide cross section will take delivery in the UK towards the end of this year.

Commenting on the groundswell of Audi votes from his readers, What Car? Editor Steve Fowler said: “A new, small Audi sounds like an enticing proposition and our readers seem to agree, voting it the most exciting new car to be launched this year. Although we haven’t seen the finished car yet, a funky small car with an Audi badge on the nose and aimed directly at the Mini can’t fail to succeed. It should be a strong contender for our Car of the Year Award in 2011!’

TT honoured yet again

Elsewhere in the What Car? Awards roster, the status quo in the ‘Best Coupe’ category remained unchanged, the TT 2.0 TFSI taking the honour for a fourth successive year on its way to hopefully matching its Mk1 predecessor, which took five category trophies. Also on a sporting slant, the R8 scooped the ‘Best Performance Car’ honour, regaining the title it held first in 2008.

Audi was also presented with the What Car? Security Award, judged in association with the Motor Insurance Repair Research Centre in Thatcham, for the third year running. This very significant award highlights the brand’s commitment to providing a deterrent that, in the words of Thatcham, “does most to protect owners from the worst intentions of criminals.”