17 years after going on sale, Audi’s ‘premium compact class’ the A3 is now celebrating sales of its three millionth unit. The car has been enjoying an upward trend in sales since 1996, with 2013 accounting for the highest proportion of this production volume – some 700 units each day included A3 and A3 Sportback models, as well as S derivatives.
The growing popularity of small and efficient cars in recent years was of course in favour of the A3. But it’s not just that. The car is in a different class than other similarly-sized hatchbacks in the market. You can’t really compare it to cars like the Focus or even the Golf.
The A3 comes with high-end features that set it apart; such as magnetic ride damper control, a ‘hands-free’ parking assistant, swivelling adaptive cornering lights, a 705-watt Bang & Olufsen audio system, MMI touch fingertip data entry and Audi connect.
Car number three million is a 2.0 TDI quattro version in five-door Sportback form. The Sportback is only one of the new variants the A3 has spawned recently. The latest of the bunch is a saloon version, which is expected to do very well – offering more practicality and better styling than the hatchback variants. There is also a saloon hybrid coming up next year complementing the rich lineup.
The hybrid A3 will be powered by a petrol-electric e-tron powertrain, capable of covering up to 188mpg while emitting as little as 35g/km of CO2. Until tha arrives, you have the current range of highly efficient petrol and diesel engines, including the 1.4 TFSI with Cylinder-on-Demand technology and 60.1mpg potential and the 1.6 TDI which pares CO2 output back to 99g/km.
