Audi Q3 PHEV looms for Oz

Audi Australia has confirmed its interest in a plug-in hybrid version of the Audi Q3 small SUV, as it looks to reduce its fleet-average CO2 in the face of the nation’s first new-vehicle emissions regulations from 2025.

Speaking with carsales at the launch of the Audi SQ8 e-tron, Audi Australia managing director Jeff Mannering confirmed plans to release a price-leading Q3 PHEV model in the company’s SUV line-up some time next year.

Additionally, a more affordable Q5 PHEV variant is also on the radar for the German luxury marque Down Under.

Like all auto brands in Australia, Audi is in a race to bring down its range-wide CO2 emissions in a bid to comply with forthcoming New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NEVS), which takes effect from 2025.

“We’ve asked for a Q3 plug-in hybrid and we now need to go through making a business case and passing homologation in Australia,” Mannering explained.

“It will be somewhere around the entry point of the line-up, because in my head you need to get volume to offset your CO2.

“If I had my wish, I would like to position it strongly. [But] I don’t think we’d be able to position it as an entry car because it has a lot more technology with its drivetrain.”

Mannering said he would consider removing some equipment from the plug-in hybrid version of the Q3 in order to make its price more palatable in Australia.

Audi’s plan centres on a facelifted version of the second-generation Q3 (pictured here and launched in Australia in late 2019), which is yet to be revealed but due to arrive in showrooms “in the next 18 months”.

The existing Q3 range currently opens at $54,600 before on-road costs for the front-drive Q3 35 TFSI.

“I wouldn’t want to take too much equipment out of the car, because then you end up with an offering without electric seats,” he said.

“But your price position is really important and the factory knows this. I’ll be saying to the factory, ‘here’s my overall volume for Australia. You’ve told me I need to be compliant [with NEVS legislation], so I need this engine to offset my higher value cars’.

“Because the technology is already there and the production lines have been depreciated, there’s probably more margin in the factory in PHEVs than EVs, I would suggest.”

Audi is currently flagging with its take-up of electrified vehicles in Australia, with just the per cent of its fleet currently utilising some form of electrification. Cross-town rivals BMW and Mercedes-Benz sit at about 25 per cent and 14 per cent respectively.

“I think everybody’s looking at their portfolio at the moment and realising that to stay at their current volumes, you have to offset your higher-emitting cars with this new technology,” Mannering said.

“If you don’t, in two years’ time you’ll be paying millions of dollars in fines.”

Audi currently offers a plug-in hybrid version of the Q8 SUV and a sporty PHEV version of the Q5.

Additionally, it will launch all-new battery-electric SUVs headed by the Q4 and Q6.

But ultimately, Mannering wants to offer more choice in Australian market.

“We’ll look at everything,” he said.

“Q5 is definitely an option. We already have the higher-output version and there is another one available.

“We’re evaluating everything and we have to look at everything.”

Mannering estimates the tipping point for electrified vehicles overtaking purely combustion-powered vehicles for Audi Australia will happen around 2028 and 2029.

“I think 2028 is when we’ll see more than 50 per cent of sales being electrified vehicles, including PHEVs,” he said.

“As for the tipping point in sales for strictly battery-electric vehicles, I think we’ll see that happen not long after that just because the development of ICE cars has stopped.

“Our global strategy is that from 2026 or early 2027 there will no more new development of ICE cars. And probably from 2033 there will be only battery-electric vehicles from Audi.”

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