Roughly 13% of Audi A3 Sportback sales over the past year have been of the e-Tron plug-in hybrid variety, according to a recent statement from the company.
The 2017 model-year Audi A3 Sportback E-Tron has the same specs as the 2016 version, featuring a 1.4-liter engine paired with an electric motor that together deliver 204 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of torque. The 2016 version was rated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as having an 86 miles per gallon-equivalent rating, and was estimated to be able to go as far as 16 miles on electricity alone. Audi notes that the EPA hasn’t yet rated the 2017 version, but we expect it to be the same. The plug-in hybrid can zip from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 7.6 seconds.
Audi's most recent metric for plug-in sales of its A3 Sportback line brings up the classic "glass half full" or "glass half empty" conundrum. The German automaker says that almost 13 percent of its A3 sales during the past year have been of the E-Tron plug-in hybrid variety. That's a decent rate, and a notable one because Audi said late last year that it was hoping that as much as a quarter of its global sales will be plug-in vehicles by 2025. As for that 13-percent figure, Audi didn't specify if that meant US or global sales. At 13 percent, Audi would've sold about 2,500 A3 plug-in hybrids. To put that in perspective, the Ford Fusion and C-Max Energi PHEV have moved 8,576 and 8,155 units this year, respectively.
Audi sold 19,622 A3s in the US through July, and it sold 2,296 A3 e-Trons in the same time, which comes to ~12% of sales, so we’re not sure how the 13% figure was determined (unless it is about global sales, but that would be weird coming from Audi USA and references to the US EV market and pricing). Anyhow, not a bad figure.