Posts Tagged "audi"

To help you navigate our coverage on the live site, the list below details our coverage by each brand:

Audi:
What exactly is ‘Sportback’, Audi?

Daihatsu:
Best in showstand: Daihatsu
Photo Gallery: Daihatsu concepts

Honda:
Honda shows concepts galore in Tokyo
Honda opens the N-Box
Honda EV-Ster concept: electric, but not organic
Photo Gallery: Honda alternative mobility
Photo Gallery: Honda concepts
Photo Gallery: Honda ‘N’ Cars

Isuzu:
Surprise star: Isuzu T-Next

Kobot:
Meet the Kobots [w/ gallery]

Mitsubishi:
Sad fall from grace of Mitsubishi

Nissan:
Nissan NV350 Caravan: fit for a whole platoon of Storm Troopers
Photo Gallery: Nissan Pivo 3

Subaru:
Subaru Advanced Tourer Concept
Toyota GT 86/Subaru BRZ: so near yet so, so far
Video: Subaru Advanced Tourer interior with Yohei Noshiro
Photo Gallery: Subaru at Tokyo

Suzuki:
Suzuki Regina concept: the mini aero delight
Happy Birthday Lapin!
Photo Gallery: Suzuki concepts

Toyota:
Turn the lights down low…
Toyota GT 86/Subaru BRZ: so near yet so, so far
Video: Tokuo Fukuichi, Toyota’s Design Chief, on the Fun-Vii concept
Photo Gallery: Toyota production cars
Photo Gallery: Toyota concept cars

Yamaha:
Yamaha’s Moegi motorcycle: A satisfying blend of old and new

Volkswagen:
Volkswagen Cross Coupe concept represents “the next step” [w/gallery]
Photo Gallery: Volkswagen at Tokyo

Misc:
Tokyo’s Smart Mobility City
Tokyo Motor Show 2011 opens its (new) doors
Ken Okuyama’s designer brakes
Mitsubishi: Cafe with a Kei
Sonic Design
Weirdest thing I’ve ever seen at a motor show (**Warning** contains a girl and two donkeys)

Audi unveiled its A1 Sportback here in Tokyo and it’s a perfectly nice car – just like an A1, but with five doors. Yet this just adds even more confusion to Audi’s sub-sub-brand.

The first time the Sportback moniker popped up was on the A3 – a car different enough in conception to warrant a unique categorization thanks to its deft mix of hatchback and wagon. Then came the A5 Sportback, a five-door fastback, followed by the A7 Sportback, which is much of the same but bigger. So Sportback looks like it now means fastback ‘four-door coupe’ (apologies for the use of this oxymoron).

So slapping the Sportback name on a hatchback with the same roofline as its three-door derivative (compare in the pic above) begs the question: what exactly is Sportback, Audi?

By Owen Ready