FOR a change, Audi’s unrelenting new-model offensive moves downmarket as never before (in Australia, anyway), targeting the hyper-successful Mini with the $29,900 A1 hatch. But, while it shares the same underpinnings as the current Polo, the A1 is defiantly different, sharing no visual or driving cues. Should BMW, Alfa, Citroen and others be worried? Should you cancel your Polo order? Or has Audi gone too far charging $30K-plus for a model that its sister company sells for nearly half the price? The answer is no.

50
Released: 1974
Ended: 1978
Family Tree: A1Yep, Audi’s been here before. The Audi 50 was a small three-door hatch with five seats and a 1.1-litre four-cylinder petrol engine offered in 37kW or 44kW power outputs. As the replacement for the popular NSU Prinz 4 (a small rear-drive, rear-engined two-door sedan from 1961 to 1973), the Audi 50 employed front-drive, with a transverse engine. Over four years, some 180,000 were sold, but the VW Polo version (introduced in 1975) proved far more popular, even though it was just a rebadging exercise.
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