(Wed 10 Feb 10)

Audi's new small hatchback, the A1, will be available to order in the UK from May, priced from around £13,000, and will officially go on sale in the fourth quarter of the year.

Due to make its world debut at the Geneva Show next month, the three-door A1 will be marketed as a premium supermini - the company's own phrase is that "Audi has shrink-wrapped everything it stands for" to create the car. It will be sold in the familiarly-named SE, Sport and S line trim levels, with increasing levels of equipment and sportiness in that order.

It will, however, be only moderately sporting, to judge by the power outputs of the three engines available from launch. There are 1.2- and 1.4-litre versions of the TFSI petrol unit, producing 85bhp and 120bhp respectively, and although the 1.4 is obviously quicker (top speed 124mph, 0-62mph in 9.1 seconds) they share the same predicted combined economy and CO2 figures of 55.4mpg and 119g/km.

There will also be a 104bhp 1.6-litre turbo diesel, which is not dramatically slower than the 1.4 TFSI but has unconfirmed economy and emissions figures of 72.4mpg and 102g/km. Other variants will no doubt follow quickly, and we would expect to see both a more performance-oriented version and one which can beat the 100g/km figure.

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