Audi plotting A3-based rival for Mercedes CLA

Audi's next-generation A3 hatchback will spin-off a stylish four-door coupe, it has been revealed.

According to an Audi official speaking to British magazine, Autocar, the sporty coupe has yet to be green-lit by senior Audi exec but, despite this, it’s already scheduled for a 2021 on-sale date -- two years after the fourth-generation A3 is introduced.

Sitting above both the five-door hatch (due in 2019) and the four-door sedan (arriving later in 2020), the new stylish coupe will follow in the tyre-tracks of the A5 Sportback.

It is set to be called the A3 Sportback, so the traditional five-door hatch is likely to be renamed simply the 'A3'.

Other reported shake-ups to the next A3 range is that the slow-selling three-door (that's available in Europe) will be culled as part of a post-Dieselgate cost-cutting exercise.

According to the Audi insider, the next A3 sedan will also grow in size in all dimensions with a focus on increasing the rear passenger space and boosting boot space.

It's thought the motivation behind a larger A3 sedan and sporty new A3 Sportback is to help push the small Audi upmarket and allow the German car-maker to charge more for its small models.

It will also further differentiate the new A3 from the smaller A1, which will also be renewed before then.

Like before, all versions of the next A3 will be once again based on the latest evolution of the Volkswagen Group's MQB platform.

Under the bonnet the A3 range will be dominated by a new family of 48-volt mild-hybrid petrol engines. The small Audi will again come with a plug-in hybrid 'e-tron' powertrain and even the option of a pure-electric powertrain.

From launch a powerful S3 warm hatch will form part of the range, with a replacement for the piping-hot RS3 hatch and sedan set to arrive in 2020.

It's thought the new A3, which will borrow design cues from this year's all-new A8 limousine, will be unveiled in 2018 ahead of its launch in the first half of 2019.