Audi’s entry-level U.S.-market car gains a first-ever sedan body style to complement a slightly larger, new-look hatchback. The redesigned A3 also promises a little extra power and more premium features. But will all this be enough to lift ho-hum sales?
What We Know About the 2012 Audi A3
Volkswagen Group’s upscale Audi division is finalizing the first redesign of its A3 premium-compact car, which has been the German brand’s entry-level North American offering since model-year 2006. The A3 actually debuted in 2003 as a 2-door hatchback, but has been sold here only as a 4-door hatch on a longer wheelbase. It’s basically a VW Golf/Rabbit with different styling and more luxury features; it also shares many design elements with Audi’s slightly larger A4 premium compacts. The new A3s will maintain these family ties. U.S. sales should begin late next year for the 2012 campaign after an early-2011 rollout for Europe and the UK.
Available intel indicates that the 2012 Audi A3 represents an evolutionary makeover despite fresh styling, somewhat larger dimensions, new features and a bit more power. One notable exception involves the addition of a first-time 4-door sedan body style developed mainly for North America, where the hatchback has been a consistent slow-seller. Local Audi fans will likely be disappointed at again missing out on the 2-door hatch and cloth-top convertible body styles available overseas, not to mention a raft of intriguing powertrains and, probably, the next-gen edition of the high-performance S3.
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Today’s A3 is based on the PQ35 platform that underpins the 2010-11 “Mark VI” Volkswagen Golf, as well as Audi’s TT premium-sporty/performance car and numerous VW Group products not seen in North America. The 2012 Audi A3 will employ a newer corporate architecture called MQB, short for Modularer Querbaukasten or “modular transverse matrix.” That’s VW/Audi-speak for “component sets” that can be mixed and matched to serve different vehicles with transverse-mounted engines and front-wheel or all-wheel drive. This platform—sorry, Audi—has been engineered to trim manufacturing costs and simplify production across a broader range of vehicle types and sizes. In fact, Car and Driver reports that MQB will be the basis for more than 60 VW Group models by mid-decade. Its next commercially significant application will be the “Mark VII” version of the global-breadwinner VW Golf, which sources say has been pulled ahead some two years to launch in calendar 2013.
According to Britain’s Autocar magazine, the 2012 Audi A3 sedan will measure 179 inches stem to stern, some 3.4 inches longer than the original 1998-2001 A4 sedan. We’d guess the A3 hatch will grow to 175 inches long, a sizeable 6-inch gain, and that both body styles will span a 103-inch wheelbase, up 1.5 inches. Width and height should be little changed.
As for 2012 Audi A3 styling, Autocar reports that division design chief Wolfgang Egger has “chosen a slightly edgier appearance with tauter surfacing...‘Expect a more distinctive look, but one that has clear links to the existing A3,’ was how one Audi source described [it].” The new A3 should also have clear links to the latest A4, if published renderings are accurate, including similar body side sculpting and “eagle-beak” tail lamps. Car and Driver says the redesign will include LED running lights, as on other newer Audis, and a grille shape like that of the recently introduced Euro-market A1 subcompact.
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