AUDI’S plan to increase its sales by creating niches and filling them with suitably attractive products seems to be working just fine. The S3 range is now three cars strong, with the introduction this week of the Cabriolet version to Australia.

Audi, while expressing only modest sales goals of 10-15 units a month, will expect it to pull its weight on the sales floor.

The Cabriolet tops the S3 tree, and starts from $69,300, plus on-roads – which is nearly ten grand more than the Sportback. It shares the same 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine and quattro drivetrain, and its folding canvas top is a technical highlight in itself.

It has a little more power at 210kW and a fair bit more weight to carry, but in the category of hotted-up turbo topless terrors, the S3 stands alone.

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