Audi Launches a Slew of Niche Models
Is local distributor Premium Automobiles taking a gamble on upmarket station wagons and the long-awaited A3 Sportback?
By Sheldon Trollope and Nick Syn
PREMIUM AUTOMOBILES RECENTLY launched a collection of lifestyle-oriented cars – the new A3 Sportback, and the A4 and A6 Avants (Avant in Audi-speak means estate or station wagon). The A3 is particularly notable, if only for how long it took the car to actually reach local showrooms.
The other two cars constitute a pretty brave move for Audi, considering that estates make up only a tiny percentage of cars sold here each year. Yet, according to a Premium Automobiles spokesperson, the company sees “potential in the estate market”.
Still, the total number of estates sold by Volvo, Mercedes and BMW this year as of the end of July was a tiny 68 units. Exactly how large a share of this tiny market Premium expects to snag, or whether it intends for the new models to help grow this segment, is unclear.
That said, the lifestyle aspect Audi is actively promoting could be a significant factor. The 1.8-litre A4 Avant and 2.4-litre A6 Avant are certainly luxuriously priced, at $168,000 and $196,000 with COE respectively.
As for the tardiness of the A3’s arrival, some two years after it was first launched in Europe, Audi claims that it had intended to launch the car together with its two latest estate models, the A4 and A6 Avants all along, thereby taking full advantage of the lifestyle aspect.
Like the estates, the A3 has significant competition, specifically in the form of kissing cousin the Volkswagen Golf. Cheaper and better equipped, the Golf is likely to pose the biggest threat to the A3’s success here. For example, consider that the $145,000 2.0-litre turbocharged A3 Sportback costs over $20,000 more than the mechanically identical Golf GTI.
Nevertheless, Premium remains undaunted and the company claims that its first shipment of A3s has already sold out, although it stopped short of revealing exactly how many units that comprised.
Audi also claims that in addition to the lifestyle aspect, the whole ownership experience encompasses unparalleled aftersales service in an effort to further distance the A3 from its competition.
