Audi has released design sketches depicting a new compact-crossover concept planned to make its world premiere at the Detroit auto show in January.

2014 is already shaping up to be the year of the SUV, despite the fact that the new year is still several weeks away. Porsche has just launched the compact Macan off-roader, the BMW X4 is about to hit the streets and Ford will be bringing the Edge, a mid-sized SUV, to Europe within the next 12 months.

Further up the motoring food chain, Bentley has confirmed it’s building a Range-Rover-busting SUV, Rolls-Royce has admitted it wouldn’t rule out a move from two- to four-wheel drive and Aston Martin has floated the idea of re-launching the Lagonda brand in order to tap into the luxury SUV sector.

Earlier this week, Audi confirmed that it is about to build a baby off-roader loosely based on its sub-compact A1 hatchback and now it has published artists’ impressions of its official show car for the upcoming Detroit show which, yep you’ve guessed it, looks an awful lot like a sports SUV.

The angular, two-door, four-wheel-drive concept has been designed to be equally at home on the school run, on the race circuit and off the beaten track.

And although the car is just for show, expect much of its design language — intersecting geometric shapes, wide haunches, short overhangs, side vents and honeycomb grille infill — to start cropping up on the company’s growing range of production cars over the next year or so.