Small sales, big symbolism for Audi A3 e-tron

The A3 Sportback e-tron went on sale in Europe more than a year ago and, at $62,490 plus on-road costs, undercuts its closest rival – the BMW i3, which costs $63,900 in all-electric form or $69,900 for the REx range extender and arrived here last November.

But Audi Australia Managing Director Andrew Doyle said it was important to bring the right plug-in model Down Under.

"The thing with this car is that it's important to launch the concept right," he told motoring.com.au at the local media launch of the A3 Sportback e-tron this week.

Doyle said Australian Audi dealers currently hold "30 to 40 pre-orders" for the A3 Sportback e-tron, but stressed that sales figures were not as important as the car's strategic role.

"Sales aspirations are not the most important topic here. The most important thing is to launch what we think is the best [hybrid] solution in the market place.

"We are always very ambitious in our sales planning and the pre-orders are a great start. We think around 10 a month [will be sold].

"It's not really lofty ambitions but we think it's the right way to launch the car."

Ten sales a month would make the A3 e-tron about as popular as BMW's i3, which has found almost 100 customers to July this year, but far more popular than Holden's mainstream plug-in hybrid, the $60,000 Volt, which was axed in April and notched up just eight sales this year.

The A3 e-tron's target market shouldn't surprise, with Audi expecting a 50:50 split between males and females who are highly educated and mostly live in capital cities (68 per cent, according to Audi's internal research).

"They are affluent and active people who like to keep up with the latest technologies," said Audi Australia product planning executive Matthew Dale.

But given the A3's status as 2014 world car of the year, Doyle hopes to find a new range of buyers.

"The car really is extraordinarily normal," he said. "A3 Sportback is popular for its practicality and its good looks. Now we have an opportunity to reach people not necessarily looking for an e-tron up-front. Sure there is a price premium, but it's also the best-equipped and efficient A3."

Adding weight to the e-tron's viability is that the warranty and servicing remain unchanged from the regular A3 Sportback.

"There's the same 15,000km service interval or 12-monthly basis for e-tron," said Dale. "We also have the standard three-year, 160,000km warranty, and there's a battery warranty on top of that for eight years."

In terms of servicing itself, Dale didn't expect any added cost over the standard variant.

"Because of the small amount of actual moving parts within the electric motor, it is basically a system that you don't have to touch… it's mainly a check. Main servicing is as per any other A3 with the 1.4-litre TFSI engine."