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.