Audi says its A3 Sportback e-tron will arrive in Australia in the first quarter of 2015.
Priced from about $60,000, the A3 e-tron will be armed with the latest plug-in hybrid technology in what will be the first of a new Audi breed.
The German brand will sell the car through 16 dealerships, mainly in urban centres, and it will be offering test drives of left-hand-drive pre-production models at the Port Melbourne go kart track from November.
The hatchback can travel about 50km purely on electric power and also has a turbocharged petrol engine which delivers a range of nearly 1000km.
Using pure petrol power the e-tron can go from 0 to 100 km/h in 7.6 seconds and a top speed of 222 km/h. The Audi A3 Sportback e-tron can be driven with just the combustion engine, just the electric drive or in hybrid mode.
Fuel efficiency is rated at 1.5L per 100km, and the lithium-ion battery can be recharged from your standard household powerpoint within five hours for about $2.20 – less if you charge in off peak.
Plug-in hybrids are not new in Australia, the Holden Volt has been around for a few years, while a few months back Mitsubishi launched the Outlander PHEV. Electric vehicles such as the Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi i-MiEV have also been on the market for several years with limited success. The latter was withdrawn from showrooms due to a lack of uptake.
But now the luxury marques are moving into the electric vehicle sector. For example, BMW is just about to launch its i3 electric vehicle, which is also available with a small combustion engine to extend its range, along with the $300,000 plug-in hybrid i8 sports car. Mercedes too has its range of diesel hybrids quickly spreading across its line-up.
Audi’s launch of the A3 e-tron sparked plenty of interest on Hamilton Island at its launch, and there has already been steady interest from prospective buyers.
“If you want to drive a longer distance, then the combination of the electric motor and petrol engine together gives you the kind of range that people are accustomed to. It’s an easy concept for customers to understand, which is why we’ve already seen such strong interest,” says Audi Australia managing director Andrew Doyle.
The e-tron engine comes as a 1.4L turbocharged petrol generating maximum power of 110kW at 5000-6000rpm and peak torque of 250Nm at 1600-3500rpm and an electric motoring powered by a Lithium-ion battery generating 75kW and 330Nm. Combined output is 150kW and 350Nm.
Transmission is six-speed dual-clutch automatic with a consumption of 1.5L per 100km.
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