Audi India declares price hike in its compact luxury SUV Q3 range

Audi, the completely owned brand of Volkswagen Group, has officially announced a hike in the prices of its compact luxury Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) Audi Q3, ranging from 1 to 2 per cent. The price hike will be applicable to both – top grade and base grade of 2.0 TDI powertrain and will come into effect from October 1, 2012. Presently, the base model of Audi Q3 has been priced at Rs. 26, 21,000 onwards (ex-showroom Maharashtra), while the high grade model is sold against a purchase consideration of Rs. 31, 49,000.

On this move of the company, Head of Audi India, Michael Perschke said, “Due to economic upheavals and rupee devaluation, we have increased the price by 1 to 2 percent on both the high grade and base grade version of Audi Q3 2.0 TDI. However, we are still confident of achieving our sales target of 8000 cars at the end of 2012 and Audi Q3 will contribute significantly towards achieving this target.”

The model was initially unveiled at the 2012 Delhi Auto Expo, scheduled in January this year, and was said to the youngest member of the company's 'Q' family. Thereafter the German auto maker launched the much hyped model in the Indian auto industry amid great buzz, which eventually proved out to be a great hit. During the initial phase of introduction, Audi Q3 witnessed a spectacular success with 500 bookings, which clearly indicated the likes of model with the hearts of Indian buyers.

Available at all the 21 official dealerships of the company, the brand with the four rings has managed to sell around 1000 units of its iconic Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) Q3 till date in the Indian auto industry and is left with only limited numbers of the model to offer for sale in 2012.

Interestingly, Audi happens to be the market leader of the country's luxury SUV segment with the models like Q5 and Q7 who have dominated the complete segment. Besides, models like Audi R8, R8 Spyder, RS5 and TT Coupe are also doing their job perfectly in the sports car segment of Indian market.

Banking on all these models, the auto maker recorded an impressive sale between January and August 2012 with figurers standing at 5406 units at a growth of 48 per cent, against 36555 units sold in the corresponding period in last year. Reportedly, in the eight months of 2012, the car maker managed to come close to its annual sales of 2011, which was floating at 5511 units. Owing to this, the company is moving with a positive attitude in the remaining part of the year. Considering the sales in the month of August 2012 itself, the auto maker managed to deliver 726 new vehicles to buyers with a surge of 42 per cent under the review of 510 units sold in year-ago period.

Along with this, expansion of dealerships network to 25 from present 21 before the end of 2012 is also on the cards of the German auto maker. The company recently opened the doors of new showrooms in Delhi West, Nagpur, Bhopal, Coimbatore, Navi Mumbai and Goa. In 2011, the luxury car maker inaugurated new facilities in Delhi South, Chennai, Surat, Indore and Ludhiana. Further expansion plans of the company include Kanpur and Lucknow, among others.

The Indian product portfolio of Audi contains several models, including Audi A4, A6, A7 Sportback, A8L, Q3, Q5, Q7, S4, RS5 Coupe and TT Coupe. Along with these, the super sports car Audi R8 and the R8 Spyder are also been introduced within the country. All the abovementioned models are available at the company's 21 official dealerships, which are spread across the length and breadth of the country. Till now, the auto maker has marked its presence in the regions like Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi South, Delhi West, Goa, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Mumbai West, Nagpur, Navi Mumbai, Pune and Surat.

On a whole, the Group delivered 1,302,659 vehicles to its buyers in 2011. During the same year, the brand with four rings reported a revenue of € 44.1 billion with an operating profit of € 5.3 billion. In order to deliver its iconic models throughout the globe, the German auto maker has based its manufacturing units in different parts of the world. Presently, the manufacturing operations of Audi Group are being carried out in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm (Germany), Changchun (China), Gyor (Hungary) and Brussels (Belgium). However, the Audi Q7 is designed in Bratislava (Slovakia).

The auto maker kicked off production operations of several models at its Aurangabad facility, following with Audi A6 by the end of 2007, Audi A4 in early October 2008, Audi Q5 somewhere in July 2010 and the Audi A6 in June 2011. At its Brussels unit, the luxury auto maker has been producing its A1 since May 2010, whereas the manufacturing of new generation A1 Sportback started in 2012. Since June 2011, the German auto maker has been designing its Q3 compact SUV in Martorell (Spain).

With the active presence in over 100 auto markets globally, Audi AG operates a number of completely owned divisions in different parts of the world. Subsidiaries of the group include Audi HUNGARIA MOTOR Kft., Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. in Sant’Agata Bolognese (Italy), Audi BRUSSELS S.A./N.V. in Brussels (Belgium) and quattro GmbH in Neckarsulm.

Globally, the auto maker presently employs over 64,000 people, wherein a large number is accounted in Germany, around 48,000. Four years down the line, the company is planning to employ a whopping amount of € 13 billion in the development of new products and the surge in the production potential of its facilities. The brand with four rings is also looking ahead to expand its manufacturing site based in Gyor (Hungary) and is planning to kick-off the operations at Foshan unit, based in China, before the end of 2013.