Geneva show: Audi teases Q2

AUDI appears to be on the brink of revealing a long-awaited Q2 compact-SUV contender, following the release of a single teaser image that shows a vacant parking space at the smallest end of its existing SUV line-up.

The campaign shot was published on the German car-maker's social media pages accompanied simply by the word 'soon'.

Audi is not telling what will follow, where or just how soon that will be, but with the Geneva motor show looming next month, the Swiss show is the most likely candidate for a debut.

Late last year, Audi confirmed it would breach the booming compact crossover market with a model to be named the Q2, and as the empty car park sits to the small end of the chronologically ordered SUV fleet, the Q2 will almost certainly fill it.

At the announcement of the Q2 late last year, Audi also confirmed that a replacement for the larger Q5 would also arrive in 2016 and, while its appearance at the Geneva show is not out of the question, the teaser shot is more likely to be heralding a baby SUV.

The new Q2 is expected to be based on the widely used Volkswagen Group MQB platform, and could carry some styling signatures from the Audi Crosslane Coupe concept revealed at the 2012 Paris motor show.

That show car debuted a muscular but compact three-door high-rider proposition with a dual-mode plug-in hybrid powertrain, which could be offered as an e-tron variant in the production Q2, alongside the company's more customary combustion engines.

When it arrives, the production Q2 will take the premium European fight to other higher-end compact crossovers, such as the Italian-built Jeep Renegade and Fiat 500X twins and the Mini Countryman.

Following the launch versions, Audi could potentially put the little SUV through its S and even RS academy, creating a high-performance version as it did with its Q5-based SQ5 and Q3-based RS Q3.