The new generation of the Audi A3 will be revolutionary in every way, a vehicle that will surprise with its propulsion, equipment, technological level…
Soon, BMW, Mercedes, or Tesla, among others, will no longer be Audi‘s main concern … and vice versa. And it is that the new offensive arrives in that decade from Asia through emerging brands, without forgetting, of course, the technological giants that have proposed to extend their business to mobility on wheels, a kind of means of transport that seeks to convert the driver into a mere occupant.
We are talking, of course, about Google or Apple. Nio, Byton, Farady Future, Lucid Motors, Polestar, Link@Co, or other lesser-known brands will not only resonate soon with the new user as manufacturers like Hyundai or Kia do among us today, but their business and production model, in most of the cases unrelated to the uncertainty of combustion technology, it is also beginning to be imitated by large European automobile groups.
One of the main consequences is that the ranges will be simplified. There will be more models, but fewer variants because the new generation car aims to be modular not only in construction but above all in software: each customer will configure the car adapted to their needs by acquiring downloadable functions on demand that they can use for hours, days or indefinitely without limiting the possibility of customization throughout the life of the vehicle.
And for this, it is mandatory to simplify and unify hardware in, for example, screens or multimedia systems. But also in the form of architecture, batteries, or electric motors. Quite a change in form and substance that many manufacturers will have to reconcile while keeping the flame of their combustion technologies alive even when, from the next decade, the electric car becomes universal in half the world, since they will have to continue to support millions and millions of gasoline, diesel, hybrid or PHEV cars sold until then.
Audi A3 e-Tron: THE COMPACT REVOLUTION
This new paradigm of the automobile already has a date in Audi: in 2023 the Q6 e-Tron will go on sale, the first car of the brand conceived under the new modular PPE concept, foundations of the Trinity projects —in VW— or Artemis —in Audi— although in reality, the principle is the same: less is more. Components and switchboards are simplified, and the most complex processes are implemented more efficiently…
The four pillars are hardware, software, batteries, and charging elements that make up the so-called SSP toolkit, where the hardware is the PPE architecture as such, initially developed for high-end electric cars, although already unified as a structural basis for everything. new electric car from the medium-sized group onwards — from 4 meters in length — as it admits different wheelbases, wheel spacing, ground clearance, etc. Over time, it will take on cars today made on MEB, which, simplified, will be used for a new generation of urban cars, leaving Audi free to the most powerful brands in the group.
Although the Audi A3 there will be a new product update to close its last life cycle – in 2026 the brand says goodbye to combustion engines -, the Audi A3 e-Tron – internally, the E3 project – will not start selling until 2027. Like the three Sphere concepts that the brand has already unveiled, the A3 e-Tron – like the Q6 and A6 e-Tron that will be launched before – will be designed from the inside out, taking advantage of the feature that PPE has to offer an even better length to living space ratio than the MEB platform.
More than more powerful engines than those currently used by an ID.3, for example, by 2026 Audi will have a more efficient generation of electric motors and also batteries with better energy density, estimating up to 600 kilometers the maximum autonomy that the ID.3 could reach. A3 e-Tron is more efficient. By then, charging powers of 250 kW and 800V technology with bidirectional charging will be standard in all-electric vehicles of the brand. The Audi A3 e-Tron will also have more performance developments keeping the S and RS sagas alive.
LEVEL 4 AUTONOMOUS DRIVING
The development of the autonomous car is, in addition to electrification, Audi’s main goal, although initially the A3 e -Tron will go on the market with limited automation. The central core of the car will share power lines with the future generation A6 e-Tron from 2023.
