Currently reading: Audi ups A3 output

Sales of the Volkswagen Golf Mk5 might have got off to a slow start, but it’s a different story with the mechanically identical, second-generation Audi A3, which is selling like hot cakes.

Such is the demand that Audi has been forced to outsource additional production of its hatchback to VW’s underused Golf plant in Brussels, Belgium.

A two-shift capacity of 700 cars per day at its Ingolstadt headquarters in Germany ‘just isn’t enough to meet sales obligations’, according to an insider.

When the five-door version of the Audi A3 – referred to internally as Sportback – arrives this summer, Audi plans to add an additional shift to boost overall A3 production capacity by around 350 cars per day.

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