When the Audi A3 debuted in three-door hatchback form earlier this week in Geneva, many assumed that the car would eventually make its way to America essentially unchanged except for the addition of two more doors.
However, a senior Audi official now says that the company has no plans to bring the A3 hatchback over from the Old Country, and instead is developing a new sedan body style to better appeal to American tastes.
The sedan “doesn’t share a single body panel with [the hatchback]†Audi of America CEO Johan de Nysschen told The Detroit Bureau. The two will likely be mechanically similar underneath their differing sheetmetal. The Audi A3 sedan concept shown at last year’s Geneva show likely provides a good idea of what to expect for the styling of the new four-door.
The American A3 will likely get a plug-in hybrid powertrain at some point in the future, de Nysschen said. Turbocharged four-cylinder gas and diesel engines will be offered to start.
De Nysschen confidently predicted that the new sedan configuration will help triple U.S. A3 sales to 30,000 units.
