Audi of America is aiming to make the next-generation A3 as its second-best-selling model next to the A4 sedan. Consumers in the United States could expect the sedan-only version of the redesigned A3 to arrive in the country in 2014 as a replacement for the outgoing hatchback. Audi hopes to return in the compact luxury segment with the sedan-only A3. Audi expects the next-generation A3 to fill in the gap that older generations of the A4 left. According to Scott Keogh, Audi of America's chief marketing officer, the Audi A4 used to be smaller and more affordable, but the newer generation versions of the model were larger, more powerful and more expensive. Keogh remarked that the new A3 sedan designed to be the "spiritual successor" in both price and dimension to the A4 model that was marketed in the late 1990s, according to Autonews. Audi started selling the A3 hatchback in the US in 2005, but American consumers by that time tended to prefer sedans, and they saw hatchbacks as economy cars. Audi only sold 6,561 A3s in the US in 2011, which is less than one-fifth of the number of A4s sold during the same period. Audi executives are aiming to sell 2,000 to 3,000 units of the redesigned A3s monthly, which when achieved would make the model surpass the brand’s second-best-selling model, the Q5 sports utility vehicle.
Audi plans to make new A3 its second-best seller in the US
by Gerald Ferreira, Email, 12 Jun, 2012
2013 Audi A3
