Order books have now closed for three-door versions of the Audi A3, as the motor industry moves away from three-door hatchbacks. Construction of the Volkswagen Scirocco has also ended.
This means that the A3 variants now available are the Sportback, Convertible and Saloon. Orders have closed for the three-door, but the current cars on order mean that the A3 three-door will officially exit production in November.
The Volkswagen Group, as well as the wider industry, is abandoning sportier three-door hatchbacks in favour of quicker-selling five-door variants, favoured by buyers for their increased practicality and resale prospects. The Scirocco’s demise was previously hinted at by VW Group executives, as was the Volkswagen Beetle hardtop's, although this model remains.
The A3 was one of only a few three-door hatchbacks left in the VW Group stable, leaving just the three-door Volkswagen Golf, the Seat Leon SC, the Volkswagen Beetle and the Volkswagen Up, Skoda Citigo and Seat Mii city cars.
A more rakish liftback variant is slated to replace the three-door A3 in the car’s next generation, which will hit the road in 2019. No replacement is yet in the pipeline for the Scirocco, although an eventual hot electric ID hatchback is likely to indirectly fill the gap.
Official word is that the Volkswagen T-Roc small SUV is likely to absorb some of the Scirocco’s sales and that, unofficially, a hot T-Roc R variant will indirectly replace the Scirocco R.
The only Sciroccos now available are the remaining UK stock, numbering only a few hundred.
Read more:
Audi A3 review
Audi A3 liftback to replace three-door hatchback in next generation
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The Scirocco died of old age...
Pity, it was a reasonable car (arguable styling : flattened frog from some angles?) but the platform was showing its age and sales were never that strong in any event.
On the other hand, the 3-door A3 always baffled me, as does the 3-door Golf: what is the reasoning behind that bodyshell? it is a car for four adults who would rather access the rear seats via their own doors rather than contort in an ungainly manner. Besides, the longer doors (heavier, too) made life difficult in ever-tighter parking slots where every inch counts.
Even the Polo now has 5 doors only. The Up! is too short for this treatment (look at the Picanto to understand why) and that makes sense.
Perhaps we were told by the media that 'rakish 3-door bodies' were good but common sense has prevailed eventually, in my view at least.
yvesferrer wrote:
Agreed. I've owned several three-doors over the years, a couple of them amongst my favourites, but there were times with all of them when I wished for rear doors, and never an occasion that I was thankful for none.
Different reason for the Scirocco's demise?
I suspect the Scirocco's demise is a more a result of slowing sales, possibly due to its age, and that it's based on the 15 year old PQ35 platform used to underpin some of the previous generation of VW Group cars and therefore is uneconomic to build in smaller numbers on a separate production line. And with the current MQB platform already being around for 5 years it looks like VW had plans for a very long time not to replace the Scirocco which I find a shame really. While anyone after a small coupe is really restricted now as there's only the BMW 2 Series and Merc CLA left.
Surprised they are dropping the 3dr A3 and Scirocco
I thought both cars were both pretty decent sellers still. Surely they sell far more Sciroccos than they do Beetles. That said, Beetle for me over the Scirocco. Personally, I'd always choose a 3dr car over a 5dr.