Audi aims to become No 1 Luxury carmaker by 2015

The luxury car segment is one of the fastest growing segments, and with this we had a one-on-one with Mr Michael Perschke, Head – Audi India to know about the Ingolstadt-based manufacturer’s future plans for India. Audi’s sales are growing strong as it has rapidly captured a good amount of market share in the last two years. Ofcourse, the company has been aggressive with its portfolio and this year, the A4 was updated and the Q3 was introduced.

Q1) With Mercedes-Benz and BMW getting their hatchbacks next year, can we expect Audi to also introduce similar next year?

The Audi A3 hatchback is a very interesting project. However, we need to be very careful with what kind of body style will be accepted by the Indian customers. Predominantly, India is a small car market and there is an increasing demand for premium and luxury sedans and SUVs. In India, it is still about the prize to size concept. Indian customers are more comfortable spending a certain amount in this segment for bigger looking cars like luxury sedans or limousines. We evaluate the market viability before bringing a global product to the local market.  We are assessing potential product launches in India.

Q2) How many dealers is Audi targeting by the next of 2013?

We want to bring our class defining products to all the luxury aspirants, wherever they are. We at Audi India have worked hard on our expansion strategy for the year 2012 with the launch of class-defining models and strengthening of our dealer network not only in metros, but also in tier II & tier III cities of India. This year, we opened dealerships in Raipur, Kanpur, Goa, Navi Mumbai, Delhi West, Coimbatore, Nagpur and Bhopal. We will continue on the same expansion. Noida, Mumbai South and Vadodara are also in the pipeline amongst many others for 2013.

Q3) Which other models from Audi will also be added to the knock-down import?

We have a clear long-term strategy in the country with positive growth plans. We recently announced the production of our second Q model locally, the Audi Q7 at the group plant Škoda Auto India Private Limited (SAIPL) in Aurangabad at a newly constructed hall. We have firmly established ourselves as the leader in the luxury SUV segment with our Audi Q models, the Audi Q7, Audi Q5 and the Audi Q3. Local production of the Audi Q7 was part of our long-term growth strategy in India and looking at the growing demand from our customers for our Audi Q SUVs we created an additional assembly line. The Audi Q7 is the fourth model to be built in India after Audi A4, Audi A6 and Audi Q5. Local production of the Q7 means Audi India is now building a second Q model locally. That will reduce waiting times for our customers and we will be able to offer a wider range of versions in the market. The Indian market is volatile, so we need to build a solid model strategy which allows us to define one or two product platforms that will take us to the next level. Also, we need to look at a model that will allow us to achieve serious production targets. Currently we will look at which of our global models will allow us in India an even higher and faster scaling up of our production capabilities. That is something we haven’t made a decision on and we are still analyzing the situation.

Q4) With Audi selling 7267 units till October 2012, the sales are close to BMW's 7389. Is Audi aiming to overtake in sales numbers by the year of this end?

India is a key strategic market for Audi globally. Like the global market, Audi is at No. 2 in India. Audi has surpassed its 2012 sales target of 8000 cars in first 11 months itself, with a sale of 8072 cars (58% growth) and has revised sales target to minimum 8600 cars.  In the month of November this year Audi registered a total sale of 805 units, a strong growth of 89 percent over the same period of time last year (November 2011: 425 units). By 2015: We aim to be No. 1 luxury car brand in India and may even achieve the pole position by 2014. Audi has contributed to the growth of luxury car segment in India. By 2020: Audi aims to sell more than 50,000 units in India.