Audi A3 e-tron here next year

Audi may have mothballed the all-electric quotient of its e-tron product electrification program, but it’s working to get its plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) offerings to market as quickly as it can.

Long billed as its “stepping stone” to full electrification, the company’s first plug-in product, to be based “around the A3 model range” will make its debut in 2014.

This most likely means a production version of the A3 Sportback e-tron on display at the Geneva motor show earlier this year will hit global markets next year.

Audi Australia Managing Director Andrew Doyle said yesterday that the company is looking to get the car here by late 2014, but was not prepared to “100 per cent” confirm the A4 e-tron for local release next year.

If sold here, the electrified hatchback will be the last in a lengthy list of variants of the third-generation A3, which is set for initial launch in May.

The first new A3s to arrive will be powered by conventional petrol and diesel engines, followed in October by high-powered 1.8 turbo TFSI and 1.4 cylinder-on-demand engines and thereafter by an S3 Sportback and, in the first quarter of 2014, A3 and S3 sedans.

The move will see Audi follow its chief luxury car rivals in offering electrified models in Australia. While Audi backflipped on its plan to bring the A6 Hybrid here, BMW has already released ActiveHybrid 3, 5 and 7 models and will launch its first PHEV, the i3, early next year.

Mercedes-Benz’s first local hybrid will be the upcoming E 300 BlueTEC, but it yet to commit to a local introduction of its first PHEV, which is expected to be a plug-in version of this year’s all-new S-Class.

Of course, Lexus remains the luxury car leader (and even Infiniti sells a hybrid version of its large M sedan here), although petrol-electric models account for only a third of its sales in Australia.

Audi has served up numerous prototypes and concepts bearing the e-tron badge, starting with 2009’s dramatic all-electric R8 first shown at that year’s Frankfurt show with a 470kg mid-mounted battery pack and four in-wheel motors serving up a staggering 4500Nm of torque.

From there, it settled into a series of more prosaic interpretations of the technology including an all-electric A3 and an A1 PHEV using a 250cc rotary range-extender engine.

While the company’s wide-ranging experimentation means little can be guaranteed over 18 to 24 months, the A3 e-tron is currently expected to reach showrooms with a 110kW/250Nm 1.4-litre turbo petrol four hitched to a 75kW/330Nm electric motor integrated into its six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.

Its modest 8kWh lithium-ion battery takes a flat-to-full charge in just 2.5 hours yet delivers up to 50km of all-electric range at speeds of up to 130km/h, pushing it 100km/h in 7.6 seconds. When all systems are freed up, top speed extends to a claimed 222km/h.

A low, broad peak torque band extending from just 1750 to 4000rpm helps keep fuel consumption to just 1.5L/100km and CO2 emissions to 35g/km.

In 2011, Audi was declaring full electrification inevitable across the industry and therefore central to its own short- to mid-term strategy.

By mid-2012 it announced a dramatic reining in of its spend on e-tron product,s saying it had jumped the gun on battery power, which it now thought wouldn’t begin to reach viability until close to 2020.

While it has always maintained its intention to get a plug-in hybrid product to market by the mid-teens, it appears to have changed its mind again on high-end battery product.

Recent sightings of an R8 e-tron in testing suggest Volkswagen’s ambitious luxury arm doesn’t want to let arch-rivals Mercedes-Benz and BMW get the jump on it with the all-electric SLS AMG E-Cell and plug-in hybrid i8 supercars.

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