Awards 2009 - Lower medium: Audi A3

The Audi A3 is once more the lower medium model of the year, snatching back the award it took from Ford’s Focus in 2007 and then lost to the Honda Civic last year.

The A3 remains the dominant lower medium model in premium badge terms, significantly out-pointing the BMW 1-series in fleet registrations. Despite the struggling market, the A3 was actually 12.7% up in the fleet sector during 2008 compared with the 2007 figure. Businesses took almost 20,000 units.

The current baby of the Audi line-up received a mid-life facelift in 2008, including the addition of both a pretty cabriolet version for the first time, and the introduction of the low-CO2 A3e model emitting just 119g/km of CO2. That finally meant drivers looking for the combination of a premium badge and a 13% BIK tax band had an alternative to BMW’s 118d.