Audi India ends first phase of Q3 bookings with 500 orders in just 5 days

Audi India, the domestic division of the German luxury marque, declared that it has finished the first round of bookings for its newly-launched Q3 in the first phase. During the period, the company offered 500 units of its compact Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) in the Indian auto industry. With as many as 500 bookings in just five days, the company has set a new record in this segment. Audi Q3 is the newest entrant in the ‘Q’ series and was unveiled at the 2012 New Delhi Auto Expo held in January 2012. The car holds an efficient and powerful 2.0 TDI quattro engine, which has decent output and controlled emissions. In the Indian auto market, the base variant of Audi Q3 is priced at Rs. 26,21,000 (Ex-showroom Maharashtra), whereas its top-end model is tagged with a badge of Rs. 31,49,000 (Ex-showroom Maharashtra).

In order to increase the popularity of Audi Q3 among youth, the brand with four rings has developed a special website, http://www.audi-q3.in/. This website features the 'Start Young' Music Video which stars the Bollywood heartthrob John Abraham, who is counted among the celebrities to own an Audi and express enthusiasm towards the Q series. The company also started a contest for youngsters, called the 'Start Young' Music Movement, to develop music videos starring themselves with the Audi Q3. Of all the submissions, the top 3 videos will be chosen by a panel of judge and will be broadcast globally. Further, the winner will be also provided with a new Audi Q3 for a month. The second position holder will be provided a chance to meet John Abraham and 5 finalists will be offered invitations for exclusive Q3 customer drives. The company also launched its own Youtube channel for India, youtube.com/audiindia, where the audience can see the music videos related to the company. Further, the latest update of Audi Magazine is introduced in printed as well as iPad versions.

Michael Perschke, Head, Audi India quoted that, “Audi continues to be a favourite with the young and young at heart, which is evident from our huge fan base on social media. We have more than 6,80,000 fans on our Facebook page with about 38,000 discussions happening on an average. We have expanded our horizon and ventured into new areas with Music video, strong brand channels, booking parties at our showrooms and now a big-scale customer drive event. This exercise has created a strong connect with our brand enthusiasts and we look forward to have many more interesting conversations with our customers with the addition of special Audi Q3 website and Youtube channel.”

He further added, “Never before has any luxury SUV received such an overwhelming response as the Audi Q3. The success of Audi Q3 is setting the speed for us to race ahead towards our next level of growth in India. This year, we have already surpassed our expectations in the Indian luxury car market and now we are even more confident of maintaining the momentum as the Audi Q3 invites new customers to our family. With ever increasing customer groups demanding for luxury mobility in a compact form and Audi Q3’s antecedents as a true luxury SUV, this SUV will lead the way for us to enter this new segment in India. Our confidence that Audi Q3 will repeat the success of Audi Q5 and Audi Q7 and further consolidate our leadership position in the luxury SUV segment has been reiterated. We will open the next round of bookings for 500 Audi Q3’s by the end of June, 2012 and expect a similar response from our customers.”

Audi Q3 is a sporty, reliable and flexible urban vehicle and was eagerly awaited in the Indian auto market. Every characteristic of the car represents Audi’s advanced technology, from the body style and the powertrain to the chassis and the multimedia systems. Audi Q3 is the only car in compact SUV segment which boasts of the quattro mechanism. With the 'Start Young' initiative, the company has clearly defined the segment and the audience that it is focussing on with this vehicle.

Before the launch of the Q3 model, Audi remained the market leader of luxury SUV segment of Indian auto industry with models like Q5 and Q7. On the other hand, with Audi R8, Audi R8 Spyder, Audi RS5 and the newly-introduced Audi TT Coupe, the company has a strong position in the sports car segment. The sales of Audi India continued to report remarkable growth as it registered sales of 451 cars during May 2012. This represents an increase of 10.5 per cent when evaluated against the year-ago period as sales in May 2011 stood at 408 units. Between January and May 2012, Audi sold 3282 units and marked a growth of 37 per cent as compared to 2394 units sold in the corresponding period in the previous year.