THE RINGLEADER
Four years after the A8 previewed Audi’s Aluminium Space Frame (ASF), the AI2 concept car was unveiled at the 1997 Frankfurt Motor show, downsizing ASF for the purposes of a volume-produced supermini. A production car was imminent – but given its hi-tech construction, it wouldn’t be cheap. Laser-welded aluminium and aluminium alloy pressings, die-cast nodes, and extrusions made up the bodyshell of the newcomer – called the A2 for production – with self-supporting panels attached in a similar manner to the Rover P6 or Renault Espace.
At the front of the car, a so-called ‘service module’ (Serviceklappe) flap provided quick access to the oil filler, dipstick and washer fluid levels without removing the bonnet. If greater access was needed, two contra-rotating lugs took it off completely.
A sloping roofline, crucial for aerodynamics (0.28 CD), restricted space for aft
