Audi’s four-door A3 looks as good as the hatch and will join Audi showrooms locally from next year.

AUDI HAS revealed its new A3 sedan which is planned to join the fourth-gen hatch in European showrooms from July this year.

Matching the new A3 hatch for looks, it adopts a bolder body style with ‘blistered’ wheel arches and angular mouldings front and back. It also packs aerodynamically beneficial features such as automatic opening and closing louvres on the front grille, which can help cool the car or aid in decreasing drag for efficiency.

Competing against the new BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe and Mercedes-Benz A-Class sedan, the new A3 brings passive hybrid and plug-in hybrid drivetrains along with improvements over its previous technology and packaging.

Based on the latest iteration of Volkswagen Group’s MQB Evo platform the new A3 sedan has grown 40mm longer, 20mm wider and 10mm taller giving it a slightly roomier cabin, though the boot measures the same 425-litres.

That new underpinning also brings the latest driver-centric cockpit design with a dash-integrated 10.1-inch infotainment screen and selection of either 10.25- or 12.3-inch virtual cockpit digital instrument displays for the driver, along with cellular hybrid digital radio and wireless Apple CarPlay which recently joined the four-ring brand’s repertoire of connectivity.

Engine options include a new 1.5-litre turbo three-pot, producing 110kW and augmented by a mild 48-volt hybrid system which decreases fuel consumption. The same technology will be applied to a 1.0-litre petrol found in the entry-level model. Both engines are mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic.

Confirmed for Europe are also two tunes of a 2.0-litre diesel turbo, producing 110kW or 85kW. And at the top of the tree until the RS3 lobs in is the S3 sedan, which will utilise yet another tune of the stalwart Volkswagon Group 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol ‘EA888’ found in the Golf GTI and R, producing 228kW to all four wheels in the S3.

Pricing and specification is yet to be announced for Australia though it is expected to join the hatch (due mid-2020) in 2021.

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