To say that Audi had an eventful Geneva Motor Show is something of an understatement, but in between official unveilings of such models as the RS5 and production A1 there was talk of a move that could possibly see the revival of the company's quirky supermini - the A2.
Interviewed during the show, Audi CEO Rupert Stradler suggested that the addition of the A1 to the company's lineup has left "room for another product and another concept between A3 and A1".
The previous A2 was sold predominantly on the European market between 1999 and 2005 and featured such innovative features as an all-aluminium spaceframe construction, "sandwich" floorpan which freed up deceptively large amounts of interior space and a number of weight-saving and engine technologies that yielded fuel consumption figures as low as 3,0-litres/100 km.
It was, however, an expensive car for Audi to manufacture due to the aforementioned use of aluminium and the fact that many of its parts were specific to that model alone - factors that contributed to it folding against such cheaper, mass-produced opposition as the Mercedes-Benz A-Class.
The new model, should it receive the go-ahead, is likely to circumvent the parts problem by sharing much of its componentry with the A1. There has also been the suggestion that the A2 could play host to an electric powerplant. According to Audi board member Michael Dick, the push for small electric cars could well influence the development route taken with the A2 "in the near future".
The only other question that remains is just what format the new A2 will take. The original car carved a niche for itself as "a small Audi, not a cheap Audi", according to a UK-based company product manager.
The A3 has, however, already played that card and the A1 has essentially done the same thing on a smaller scale. This leaves Audi with the choice of reincarnating the car as a compact MPV or possibly a micro SUV when the car reportedly emerges in 2014.
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