A high-riding 2023 Audi A3 crossover for people who can’t, or won’t, make the jump to a real crossover has been out testing again, and it looks like it might get the Allstreet name.
Spy photographers snapped the five-door Sportback hatch testing on and around the Nürburgring, and while the swirly disguise at the front, rear, and along the sides makes it hard to pick out the final bumper design, we can detect a subtly raised ride height and discrete wheel arch cladding of the kind seen on the new A1 Allstreet.
Previous prototypes spotted testing were plug-in hybrid models, a fact given away by the charging port flap on the driver’s side wing. But this latest test car appears to be powered by a conventional four-cylinder combustion motor, most likely a 1.4-liter gasoline, or a 2.0-liter diesel engine.
Audi began using the Allroad name over 20 years ago for this kind of car-based crossover, first on an A6 with a raised ride height and body cladding, and later on an A4 given much of the same treatment. But more recently it has used the Citycarver name for a jacked-up version of the little A1 hatch.
Related: New 2022 Audi RS3 Arrives This Summer In The US Priced From $59,095
Since that pseudo-off-road A1 was rebranded as the A1 Allstreet earlier this week, there’s now speculation that its A3 big brother will get the same badge. The A1 Allstreet is only available with front-wheel drive, however, so if Audi chooses to make the A3 version all-wheel drive, positioning it as a premium product, it might go for the Allroad tag. But in markets like the UK, the A3 Sportback already comes only with front-wheel drive unless you’re buying an S3 or RS 3 hot hatch.
Audi UK recently dropped the A4- and A6-based Allroads from its model range, but the cars are still available in other markets despite the increasing number of real crossovers available in the market, including at Audi’s own dealerships.
Whatever Audi chooses to call its A3 crossover, we can expect it to launch in the second half of 2022 as a 2023 car, and potentially be strutting its faux-crossover stuff on European streets by the back end of this year. But since the U.S. only takes the A3 sedan and not the five-door Sportback hatch, it’s a firm no to the model being available on this side of the Atlantic.
