Audi India, the third largest luxury car maker in the country, has again posted excellent figures for domestic sales. The company has risen steadily in the past one year and developed its reputation among luxury car buyers. Between January and November 2011, the car maker was able to roll out 5117 cars from its showrooms. Thus, the company successfully crossed the target it had set for itself for this year – 5000 units – in just 11 months. This represents growth of 83 per cent, as the company had sold 2791 cars during January and November 2011. In November 2011 only, the German automotive giant, was able to sell 425 vehicles against 256 units in the same month in 2010, a 66 per cent rise.
Michael Perschke, Head, Audi India, said, “Given our outstanding performance in the first eleven months of the year, we are well poised to finish the year strongly by exceeding our expectations yet again. We attribute this growth to our continued focus on introducing an energetic product line, qualitative network growth and strong brand pull. While our strengthened ‘A’ range of limousines are delighting customers with their progressive design, sportiness and dynamic performance, we have established market leadership with our Q5 and Q7 in the luxury SUV segment and the iconic R8 in the super sports car segment. I am confident that our impressive sales performance YTD coupled with our dynamic product line and fast expanding dealer network will ensure that Audi maintains its position as the fastest growing luxury car brand in India.”
Audi has been quite aggressive this year, with the recent opening of its showroom at Indore, Madhya Pradesh showing that it sees business in smaller cities of the country, not just the metros. The car maker also plans to open many new showrooms with the aim of taking its Indian network to 23 dealerships from the current 15 by 2012. In the year 2011, the world famous auto manufacturer commenced operations at showrooms in Delhi, Chennai, Ludhiana and Surat, while it opened doors of showrooms in Mumbai West, Kolkata, Jaipur and Bengaluru in the previous one.
In terms of product portfolio, the company has launched many class-leading vehicles in 2011. The list of its 2011 launches comprises Audi A8 L; the super sports cars Audi R8 V10 and Audi R8 Spyder; and Audi A7 Sportback. Apart from these, the company also rolled out Audi RS5, a coupe that offers excellent performance; and Audi A6, business-class luxury limousine in the country in 2011.
Speaking globally, Audi was able to sell over 1,081,700 vehicles between January and October 2011, a Year over Year (YoY) increase of 18 per cent. Audi holds the first position in terms of sales in Europe and China, while it boasts of being the most rapidly growing luxury car manufacturer in India and USA. Notably, China is the biggest market for Audi instead of Germany, its home country. The company is implementing some of the strategies that bore fruit in China in the Indian auto market in a bid to strengthen the brand, network and product portfolio.
Currently, Audi's line up in India comprises Audi A4, Audi A6, Audi A7 Sportback, Audi A8L, Audi Q5, Audi Q7, Audi RS5 Coupé, the super sports car Audi R8 and the Audi R8 Spyder. These are available at 15 centres, namely Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Mumbai West, Pune and Surat. Soon, the company will also make its presence felt in Coimbatore, Delhi West, Lucknow and Mumbai South through exclusive showrooms.
