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Ken Gratton8 Jul 2014
NEWS

S3 Sportback pricing for Audi A3 e-tron

Sub-LCT plug-in hatch due here around six months from now

Audi's long awaited A3 e-tron will be likely priced under $60,000 when it arrives in Australia during the first quarter of next year.

Audi Australia plans to price it around the same mark as the S3 Sportback – $59,900, which would keep it below the luxury car tax (LCT). The beauty of that, for consumers, is that the very low emissions vehicle will offer the potential to option up with extras worth around $15,000, without attracting any LCT impost at all, thanks to the green car dispensation for 'luxury cars' priced up to $75,375.

And the A3 e-tron is nothing if not green.

It can recharge from a domestic power outlet overnight, or rely on the 1.4-litre TFSI engine under the bonnet to recharge it on the move, once the 50km battery/electric range is exhausted. Some will argue that it's not truly green while parts of Australia remain locked into coal-fired power stations.

It's a commonly expressed concern about plug-in cars – especially in Victoria – that the state is heavily reliant on brown coal for our power stations. The perception, rightly or wrongly, is that well-to-wheel, plug-in hybrids emit just as much carbon dioxide as conventional petrol-engined vehicles. In Europe, to overcome that perception, Audi has hooked up with a green energy supplier, which is a much easier proposition there, says Shaun Cleary, Senior Product Communications Executive for Australia.

But Cleary also says that Audi Australia is considering environmentally-focused incentives such as something like a 12-month green energy subscription as part of an installation package for Australian buyers. The importer is not yet ready to make any such announcement in that regard, however.

When the vehicle arrives in Australia Audi will launch it bundled with the installation package including a recharging system on its own domestic household circuits – ensuring that recharging the battery of the small car won't brown out the freezer or the clothes dryer.

That service will be absorbed in the price of the A3 e-tron.

For the moment, plug-in hybrids remain a tough sell in the Australian market, but natural evolution of the global product range – not only for Audi, but other European brands too – will see plug-in hybrids come down in price and breach that acceptability barrier.

Audi has made no secret that e-tron variants will be introduced in other models spanning the range, and the plug-in cars will be marketed using the e-tron drivetrain brand, just as TDI and TFSI are.

Initially the e-tron variants will be a cut above the conventional diesel and petrol models, but as the roll-out of plug-ins continues, the price premium will narrow. This is expected to happen due to the changing political climate in Europe, which is driving all car companies to build larger numbers of hybrids and plug-ins, simply to meet future emissions standards.

In Australia, the A3 e-tron will be positioned further upmarket than in Germany (explaining the close proximity to the price of the S3 Sportback). Audi will only sell the Aussie-spec car through select dealers – who are yet to be announced, but will probably share the quality of location close to major population centres.

As with other plug-in cars we've driven, the A3 e-tron looks like a promising intermediate step in the future of automotive design. Stay tuned for our first drive of the car in production form.

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Written byKen Gratton
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