Audi eyes over 45 per cent sales growth in India

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German luxury car maker Audi on Sunday said it is looking at over 45 per cent sales growth in 2012 in India and is introducing its global customer-oriented programme, Audi CarLife-Advance as part of the plan.

"Our target this year is to sell over 8,000 units and we are confident we will be able to achieve it. Last year, we sold 5,511 units," Audi India head Michael Perschke told agencies.

The confidence, he said, is despite the fact that prices of all the luxury cars in India have gone up after the excise and import duties were hiked in the Budget.

"Our products, which are assembled in India have seen a price hike at an average of 3 per cent, while those imported as completely built units have become costlier by 13 per cent," he said.

Audi's models such as A4, A6 and Q5 that are assembled in India are available at prices between Rs 27.85 lakh and Rs 47.68 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

On the other hand, fully imported models such as TT, Q7, RS5, R8 and R8 Spyder are priced between Rs 49.48 lakh and Rs 1.7 crore (ex-showroom Delhi).

Perschke further said already in the January-April period this year, the company has sold 2,831 units, a jump of 43 per cent from 1,986 units in the year-ago period.

On the initiatives to woo more customers, he said the introduction of programme like the Audi CarLife-Advance, which is a customised product that offers car financing, extended warranty, insurance and service plans, is aimed at expanding the customer base in India.

"While we can't say that this will give us incremental sales immediately, but it will give customers complete peace of mind from a service and EMI point of view. We want to create more customer loyalty," Perschke said.

Apart from such programmes, the introduction of volume oriented models like the A4 and the sports utility vehicle Q3 that will be launched in June this year will also help in boosting sales further, he said.

"Moreover, we are also expanding the Audi network to 25 this year from 15 and this will give us the opportunity to capture more customers," he added.

Perschke, who had earlier stated that Audi is aiming to become number one in the Indian luxury car market by 2015, said the company is on track to achieve its goal.

While it is estimated that Audi may have become second behind BMW after overtaking Mercedes in the first three months of this year, it cannot be ascertained how much is the gap between the three German rivals as BMW and Mercedes have stopped publishing their sales data since last year due to anti-trust issues in Europe.