Cabrio next for new Audi A3 family
First Audi A3 sedan to be followed by new Cabrio, then S3, RS3 and e-tron versions of new A3Audi's next-generation A3 Cabriolet will make its global debut at the Frankfurt motor show in September, before being released in Europe next March and in Australia later next year.
Before then the new A3 line-up will be significantly expanded by the all-new A3 sedan next January, while the redesigned A3 Cabrio will be followed in 2015 by Audi Australia’s first electrified model, the A3 e-tron plug-in hybrid that consumes just 1.5L/100km.
Hot new S3 and even hotter RS3 versions of the A3 sedan, cabrio and five-door Sportback (released locally last month) will also become available within the largest A3 family ever offered.
As such, Audi Australia has already stated it plans to return to leadership in the premium compact segment with an expanded range of A3 models that it hopes will outsell both the Mercedes-Benz A-Class hatch and CLA-Class sedan, and BMW’s 1 Series range.
So far this year, Mercedes-Benz is the on top of the premium compact segment in Australia with almost 1500 combined sales of its new A-Class and B-Class, ahead of Audi with about 1200 combined A3 and A1 sales, and BMW with less than 750 sales of the 1 Series.
Globally, the German car-maker expects the A3 sedan to account for more than half of all A3s sold, thanks to the rapid growth of small luxury car sales in the world’s two largest markets – China and North America, where sedans are the dominant body style.
Audi expects A3 sedan sales to be incremental to those of the hatchbacks, which have notched up about 3.5 million sales since 1996, making the A3 responsible for more than a fifth of Audi’s global revenue.
Like the A3 sedan, the next A3 Cabrio will be built exclusively in Hungary for countries other than China, based on the same new MQB platform as all A3s and the Volkswagen Golf Mk7.
Although it will share its wheelbase with the shorter A3 three-door, which is not sold in Australia, the new-look A3 Cabrio will share its proportions with the sedan, meaning it will be slightly lower and wider than the hatch.
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