When you were perusing through our gallery of images of Audi's A1 concept, you might have noticed something out of place. A phone? In a press pack? WTF?Supposedly, the little device will act as a phone, MP3 player and NAV system – so nothing particularly new there. What is novel is that the "AudiPhone" has the ability to start your car on cold mornings, find your vehicle in a crowded car park and store photos taken by the onboard cameras. Nothing else about Audi's new gadget is available, but we're mere days away from the A1's unveiling in Tokyo. Let's just hope it isn't hermetically sealed in a display case like some other hot gadget.
[Source: Motor Authority]
London 2008: Honda OSM concept roadster says, "Cheerio!"
London 2008: Lotus unveils the Evora
2010 Chevy Camaro - Official Details and Images
2010 Chevy Camaro - LIVE from the reveal
Volkswagen unveiling two-door Elise fighter in LA, new sports car
First Drive: Maserati Quattroporte S in Europe
First Drive: 2008 MINI Cooper S JCW
In the Autoblog Garage:2009 Nissan GT-R
North American Exclusive First Drive: Alfa MiTo
First Drive: 2009 Kia Borrego
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Rollolo @ Oct 18th 2007 8:06PM
Cool phone! Well, the car, ...
here is a version of the A1 how I would buy it:
http://img135.imageshack.us/my.php?image=1111ms7.jpg
J. Crew @ Oct 18th 2007 8:14PM
What a cool car and a cool phone... Audi has some of the best designs regardless of what they make. They are on fire!
d3 a8 SWB @ Oct 18th 2007 9:19PM
Sweet - I was hoping Audi would find a car to market to the pre-teen segment.
Now everyone has a slot in their lineup - high school kids get the A4, learners permit drivers get the A3, and so on.
Yay US negative savings rate! Yay people who should be buying Hyundais and saving their money! Yay fake "luxury" cars!
hatchfan @ Oct 19th 2007 7:59AM
Not sure I like the design (of the car), but unlike d3 a8 SWB, I believe there are actual adults who listen to mp3's in their cars and use their nav systems. I also believe at least some of those adults might like the idea of being able to take those capabilities out of the car to use as well.
It appears the aftermarket mp3 car kits and nav units support this belief.
Not to mention, Audi's not exactly alone in terms of "luxury" manufacturers trying to capture younger buyers at lower price points.
I also believe there are Audi owners who are actually financially capable of making their car payments AND saving money.
All of that being said, an integrated device like this will have a hard time being viable over the average loan term of a new car at the rate phone/mp3/nav technology moves. I'm also not a fan of the A1 grille.