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NEWS
Audi closes in on Benz and BMW
Volkswagen's luxury brand presents a serious threat to its competitors, worldwide and Down UnderAudi’s concerted pitch for the number one spot in the luxury segment continues unabated, with the company heading for its best sales year ever in Australia, shifting a projected 15K units two years ahead of schedule.
Local MD Andrew Doyle told media at a briefing this week that the company expects to sell “well over 15,000 units” in what’s expected to be a record 1.1 million sales total in 2013. “Five or six years ago we were setting out plans to make 15,000 sales by 2015 and catch our competitors. We won’t catch them this year, but we do expect to pass that sales mark this year,” he said.
In the mid-2000s, Audi was in “the high threes”, he continued. Since then it’s recorded steady, sometimes dramatic growth year on year to a high of 14,534 units in 2012. This year, a steady pour of new product – a mix of brand-boosting S and RS models with the next-gen A3 volume compact – positions it well to continue boosting its market share.
In doing so, Audi will remain on a steady trajectory closing the gap between itself, Mercedes-Benz and BMW. “Over the last five or six years we’ve gone from about 30 per cent of Mercedes-Benz’s volume to around 80 per cent,” Mr Doyle said. “And against BMW we’ve gone from about 30 per cent of their volume in 2005 to almost 90 per cent now.”
Last year it was the fastest growing premium brand worldwide, recording sales growth of 11.7 per cent – a hair’s breadth ahead of BMW on 11.6 and a long way ahead of Mercedes-Benz at 4.7 per cent. Total global sales of 1,455,100 vehicles for 2012 put the company at number two, just 85,000 units behind BMW.
In what Mr Doyle called “a consolidation year” for the Australian arm, sales of 14.5K units represented sluggish growth of just 0.2 per cent, well behind Benz at 6 per cent and BMW at 5 per cent.
But after Q1 2013, with 4064 unit sales representing 18 per cent year on year, Audi is the second fastest growing premium brand in the country. Benz rode to top spot with 40 per cent, mainly on the back of the new A Class.
That’s not what the company would have liked, he said, but with the launch of the A3 (pictured) starting in May and a raft of variants coming on stream in the following months, he’s confident the company has something to help redress it and continue closing the gap.
“At the rate we’re going, we’re well on track to reach number one by 2020 or before.”
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Written byJeremy Bass
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