Audi Australia eyes a decade of growth

Audi Australia says it is looking forward to its 10th consecutive year of sales growth in 2014, when it will put six new models into local showrooms.

Speaking at the launch of its new S3 Sportback this week, Audi Australia Managing Director, Andrew Doyle, said that the prestige importer is on target to top 16,000 sales by the end of the 2013 calendar year and, to the end of November, had notched up 14,620 registrations.

“In Australia this year we are looking to achieve more than 16,000 units, or growth of more than 10 per cent year-on-year,” Doyle explained. “In 11 months we have already sold our full-year 2012 result, and we have already achieved our ninth consecutive record year. It’s a milestone that we are reaching a full two years ahead of our original plan.”

Doyle refers to Audi Australia’s 2009 ‘Route 15’ strategy, which sought to achieve per annum sales of 15,000 units by 2015. The 15,000 milestone was surpassed this month (December), meaning Audi has more than doubled its sales in Australia since 2007, when totalled just 7225 sales locally.

Performance-orientated vehicles have been a particularly strong part of the mix for the marque. As an example, Audi expects its new S3 Sportback (launched this week) to account for 20 per cent of all A3 Sportback variants sold by the end of next year 2014.

Locally, the S3 has led its segment every year since 2007 and in aggregate has sold 517 examples more than comparative BMW models and 6358 more than similarly-specified models from Mercedes-Benz.

It’s a trend that applies across Audi’s S and RS model lines, sales of which are up 150 per cent (or 558 units) compared to the end of November 2012. By way of comparison, Mercedes-AMG has expanded 24.9 per cent during the same time, while BMW’s M division has managed a 2.1 per cent increase.

Total sales volume for regular Audi models during the same period rose around 10 per cent from 12,966 to 13,690 units.

“Audi’s growth in the performance segment is very high,” said Doyle. “We’ve grown about 150 per cent year-to-date [as of] November. The share, importantly, of the overall volume of Audi models has improved. It’s improved from well under three per cent to well over six per cent of our total national sales.”

Doyle’s comments were amplified by Audi Australia’s General Manager of Corporate Communications, Anna Burgdorf, who said the A3 Sportback and the new A3 sedan due here early next year will be a large component of the brand’s growth in the New Year.

The recently-released A3 Sportback will be joined in January by the first sedan variant, which Burgdorf believes will help the brand compete against Mercedes-Benz’s new A- ,B- and CLA-Class range.

“We are very excited about A3 Sedan and believe it will be well-received here,” said Burgdorf. “We believe our pricing will be very strong and have indicated [a price increase of] somewhere around $3000 on top of the [A3] Sportback’s pricing.”

“We are happy with the sales of the new A3 Sportback to-date – [which are] up 84 per cent -- and we think the A3 sedan will start to even-up the combined sales of A- and B-Class models. It’s fair to say that Mercedes is having a very strong year, and congratulations to them for their results, however, it is our intention to become the number one premium brand in Australia in the medium term. The new A3 sedan model will support our growth to this end.”

Following the A3 sedan in “late February or early March” is the highly anticipated RS Q3. At $82,000 (plus on-road costs), the turbocharged five-cylinder compact SUV will not come cheap, but will sit solo in a market niche BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Land Rover and Lexus have yet to capitalise upon.

The sporty theme will continue in April when the S3 Sedan arrives. It is set to compete against the Mercedes-Benz CLA 45 AMG, and like the S3 Sportback will deliver 206kW and 380Nm, and offer similar levels of performance, equipment and styling.

In “late April or early May” Audi will also present its facelifted A8 and S8 flagship models Down Under. The large sedans will face-off against the BMW 7 Series and new Mercedes-Benz S-Class, and are expected to be priced to compete with them.

Audi’s new A4 will also arrive in local showrooms “sometime next year”. Audi’s local representatives said they are “very confident” the prestige mid-sizer will better the brand’s performance in a segment where it currently ranks fourth.

To the end of November (2013), the Audi A4 managed just 2325 units, a year-on-year fall of 8.6 per cent. The Lexus IS fared slightly better with 2642 registrations during the same period, behind 5084 examples of the BMW 3 Series and 5528 Mercedes-Benz C-Class models.

What’s coming from Audi:
December 2013: S3 Sportback (new model)
January 2014: A3 sedan (all-new model)
February/March 2014: RS Q3 SUV (all-new model)
April 2014: S3 sedan (all-new model)
April/May 2014: A8 and S8 sedan (facelift)
July 2014: A3 Cabriolet (new model)
2014: A4 (new model)
2016/17: Q1 SUV (all-new model)

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