Americans don’t like hatchbacks. At least, that’s the generalization that most manufacturers that do business here in the U.S. tend to operate by. To their credit, the sales numbers seem to back up that claim: Sedans typically outsell their long-roof counterparts by wide margins despite their limited functionality, and that’s something that Audi seems to have picked up on with its A3. The smallest of the American Audi fleet is available only in 5-door trim and certainly hasn’t enjoyed the kind of sales success that the company had hoped for. According to Financial Times Germany, the company is taking a hard look at bringing a 4-door version of the A3 to the U.S. in an attempt to win over more buyers. The move could give the A3 an edge in this segment. Its main competitor is the BMW 1-Series, which is available only as a coupe. Adding a 4-door to the Audi lineup would probably broaden the car’s appeal significantly, but from where we’re standing, the A3 has a larger hurdle to overcome -- namely, its sibling the Volkswagen Jetta SportWagen.
While A3s have been languishing on dealer lots, Volkswagen is selling SportWagens as fast as the factory can produce them. The reason: VW’s wagon is nearly identical to the Audi version, save for a few interior and exterior tweaks. Throw in the fact that the SportWagen costs almost $8,000 less than its Audi counterpart and things start to become even clearer.
The sad fact is that people who are interested in the functionality of a little extra cargo room tend not to be interested in things like a leather interior or boat-loads of onboard technology. The good news for Audi, though, is that the company is less likely to run into buyers cross-shopping an A3 sedan with a Jetta 4-door.
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