New Audi A3 Saloon arrives – because there’s China, the BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe and the Mercedes A-Class Saloon

The new Audi A3 Saloon arrives in the UK – a coupe-roofed A3 Hatch – to take the challenge to the Mercedes A-Class Saloon and the BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe.

When the last Audi A3 Saloon arrived back in 2013, we noted that it was a four-door A3 Hatch with a boot aimed mainly at the Chinese market but on sale in the UK nevertheless. In the intervening seven years nothing much has changed.

But what has changed, despite a lack of love for saloon cars in the West (well, apart from the USA, although tiny saloon cars aren’t really their bag), is the arrival of direct competition from Mercedes and BMW in the guise of the Mercedes A-Class Saloon and the BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe.

So despite the A3 Saloon only accounting for around 20 per cent of A3 sales in the UK, the new A3 Saloon arrives as a coupe-roofed saloon based on the A3 Hatch and perfectly suited to conservative buyers who don’t want the practicality a Hatch offers.

The A3 saloon is now a bit bigger than before – and longer than the A3 Hatch – with underpinnings from the new Golf and an interior based on the Golf tech but with an Audi skin and more buttons.

Engines are Golf familiar too, with a 109bhp three-pot petrol, 148bhp 2.0 litre diesel and a new 148bhp 1.5 litre petrol with a bit of mild hybrid help and cylinder deactivation.

The new Audi A3 Saloon is now on sale with first deliveries due in the summer. Expect prices to start from around £25k.