Audi targeting more PHEVs beginning with Q3 and a cheaper plug-in version of its mid-size Q5 SUV
Audi has confirmed that it wants to rapidly increase the number of plug-in hybrid vehicles it offers in the Australian market beginning with the Audi Q3 45 TFSI e ahead of the inbound New Vehicle Efficiency Standards (NEVS) regulations that are due in 2025.
And the new Q3 PHEV could be one of the most affordable models in the line-up if Audi Australia managing director Jeff Mannering has his way.
Already available in Europe in both wagon and Sportback body-style, the electrified take on the small Audi SUV blends a 180kW system output with an all-electric range of around 51km on the WLTP test cycle and a claimed average fuel use as low as 1.4L/100km.
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According to Mannering, a more affordable version of the plug-in of the larger mid-size Audi Q5 is also in contention as the brand races to slash its range-wide CO2 figures ahead of the NVES introduction.
Mannering said: “We’ve asked for a Q3 plug-in hybrid and we now need to go through making a business case and passing homologation in Australia.”
He said he was pushing for the Q3 PHEV to be a serious volume player for what is the brand’s top selling model.
“It will be somewhere around the entry point of the (Q3) line-up, because in my head you need to get volume to offset your CO2.
“If I had my wish, I would like to position it strongly. [But] I don’t think we’d be able to position it as an entry car because it has a lot more technology with its drivetrain.”
The German brand’s boss says plans are afoot to even lower equipment levels on the Q3 45 TFSI e to ensure when it arrives it will land with attractive pricing.
Instead of taking the current-gen Q3 plug-in hybrid, Audi Australia will wait for the facelifted version that will arrive in European showrooms before the end of 2025.
Mannering didn’t disclose how much of a premium the plug-in would command over the current Q3 range that starts at $54,600 (plus on-road costs) for the entry Q3 35 TFSI.
Currently Audi offers plug-in hybrid versions of the Q8 and a high-grade PHEV version of the Q5 and will launch an all-electric version of the both the Q4 and the Q6 next-year.
A more affordable Q5 PHEV is also on the wish list.
“[The] Q5 is definitely an option,” said Mannering. “We already have the higher-output version and there is another one available.
“We’re evaluating everything and we have to look at everything
He added that a higher percentage of ultra-low emission vehicles within its line-up the brand could be liable for “millions of dollars” in fines.
Mannering said that from around 2028 more than 50 per cent of all its sales Down Under would be electrified vehicles and reconfirmed Audi’s position that the writing is on the wall for internal combustion engines.
“Our global strategy is that from 2026 or early 2027 there will no more new development of ICE cars. And probably from 2033 there will be only battery-electric vehicles from Audi.”
