Americans may just soon get a chance to get themselves behind the wheels of small premium cars like the Audi A1 minicar which is scheduled to be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show.

The Audi A1 have been previewed before in several auto shows the past years and we can say that the A1 is very similar to the MINI Cooper looking at the premium, small segment.

The A1 is expected to have a range of powertrains from 1.2 to 1.6L and may come as a convertible and a 3-door or 5-door hatchback.

The small premium car market has been doing very well in Europe. In the United States, premium and small might not really blend well. The North American market has a tendency to equate size with value and buying smaller vehicles is not how the consumers do business. Audi thinks this way of thinking can be change and they believe that their small cars have a market to supply in the U.S.

The carmaker is looking into the segment of buyers who are young, mobile, and urban. Audi believes this population is big enough to sell 80,000 units around on the globe on A1’s first year.

The numbers might be a hard target to hit but it is not impossible. Back in 2008, MINI Cars was close to selling 60,000 cars in the US during the first half of the year. In 2009, the MINI was able to sell 45,000 cars.

The MINI though has a loyalty factor and that’s what Audi needs to compete with if it wants to reach its goals and compete with BMW in the small car segment.

In France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, the average emission of CO2 for all new cars in all categories (SUVs included) is 3.26 tons/year (since the beginning of 2008) based on 12,000 miles/year. While in Japan, the average emission of CO2 is 3.10 tons/year. In the U.S., the average CO2 emission for new cars is a surprising 5.77 tons/year.

When it comes to consumption of fuel, the study found that cars, minivans, and SUVs in the U.S. market consume 10.6 lt/100 km. While European cars consume 5.83 lt/ 100km and Japanese cars consume only 5.79 lt/100km. I suppose American drivers should counter this by reading up on some fuel efficiency tips.

Note that the European CO2 results are affected by the big proportion of compact cars and diesel engines, and the Japanese CO2 average is affected by the large proportion of minicars. While SUVs make up 30% of the total U.S. new car market.

Another factor is the strict CO2-based taxation enforced throughout Europe, which hasn’t been adapted in the U.S. Also, the higher gas prices in Europe also affect the results of the study.

If the U.S. will enforce the fuel-consumption-based taxation on new vehicles and if the gas prices will rise to the same levels as those in Europe, then American will be forced to buy compact-sized cars which emit less CO2 and consumes less gas.

Clearly, being eco-friendly has become more of a necessity nowadays because it not only affects the consumers’ financial stability but also the environment.