The Audi A4 Cabriolet could be making a comeback as Audi tries to reshuffle its convertible lineup to make room for its return. Part of that reshuffling reportedly involves axing two current convertibles that have become anchors weighing Audi’s sales volume down. If this happens, we could be saying goodbye to the Audi TT Roadster and the Audi A5 Cabriolet. Both models have had their time in the sun, but now it’s looking like they’re being called back home.

It’s been nine years since Audi last built the A4 Cabriolet. Yes, it seems like it was just yesterday when the B7 Audi A4 was on the road and had a convertible version with it. But it’s been almost a decade since we last saw the A4 Cabriolet.

But that could all change after a new report from AutoBild revealed that Audi is considering bringing back the nameplate and use it to replace the TT Roadster and A5 Cabriolet. Coming to that kind of decision usually means there is a lot of important reasons behind it. In this case, it appears that Audi’s prepared to cut bait on the two convertible models because they haven’t been pulling their own weight in helping Audi’s sales volume.

There’s some truth to that, too. Just last year, Audi reportedly sold less than 4,000 units of the TT Roadster in Europe, a steep drop from its 2016 sales numbers, which peaked at over 5,000 units. Comparing sales of the TT Coupe and TT Roadster also paints a terrible picture for the latter as the coupé posted strong sales amounting to 12,000 sold units. Basically, Audi sold three times as many TT Coupe units in Europe last year than the TT Roadster.

The situation isn’t any better with the Audi A5 Cabriolet. While it’s true that sales of the A5 family (A5, S5, RS5) improved to 61,619 units in 2017 compared to 43,686 units in 2016, the A5 Cabriolet accounted for just 7,404 units, half the volume of the A5 Coupe (14,470 sold units), and a long ways off from the volume of the A5 Sportback (39,745 sold units). Translate that into percentages and the A5 Cabriolet accounted for a paltry 12 percent of the model’s whole sales volume for the year. Not good.

If Audi decides to bring the A4 Cabriolet back, the Autobild report revealed that it could be built using the Volkswagen Group’s versatile MQB architecture. It also happens to be the same platform that underpins the smaller A3, as well as a number of models from other brands under the VW umbrella.

Details about the car have yet to be revealed, but the use of the MQB architecture not only means that Audi won’t have to build a platform from scratch but, more importantly, it could offer a far more competitive price than its rivals by virtue of the cost savings tied into having an existing platform in place.

It would be interesting to see how this evolves. The Autobild report didn’t cite any sources, so there’s a possibility that this rumor is nothing more than fantasy. But there are numbers to back up why Audi is thinking about it. The TT Roadster and A5 Cabriolet are suffering from sales fatigue. By replacing them with the A4 Cabriolet, Audi could jolt some life back to its floundering convertible offerings.

References

Read our full review on the 2007 Audi A4 Convertible.

Read our full review on the 2017 Audi TT Roadster.

Read our full review on the 2017 Audi A5 Convertible.

Read more Audi news.