It was too good a mould to break. Actually, the A3 shares a mould. VW is Audi's parent company and the A3 has been built, for reasons of economy, on the same base as the Golf. You might have imagined that this would force the cars to occupy much of the same territory, yet they could hardly be more sharply distinct from one another. Of course, not everybody wants a hatchback which performs like a saloon.
Some people like their hatchback to act like a hatchback.