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Audi will be numero uno in Oz: CEO
As Audi Australia's strong growth continues, the importer declares it will overtake BMW and BenzIt's not a question of 'if', but 'when' Audi will become Australia's top-selling prestige brand. That's the prognosis from Audi Australia's straight-talking Managing Director, Andrew Doyle.
"We make no bones about it: we want to be the number one premium brand in this country," said the Audi Australia boss.
"Our two competitors, we certainly respect greatly, but we've been able to catch up on our competitors. We've been growing at a much faster rate. Mercedes growth has been stable, and BMW has lost its number one spot."
So when will Audi snatch the sales crown from its German rivals?
"For me it's not important to put a year on it. We have a longer term strategy and we have ambitious goals, we're an ambitious brand," he said.
Back in September Audi Australia's General Manager for Corporate Communications, Anna Burgdorf, intimated the plan to overtake BMW initially would commence with a new model roll-out from next year.
"It's not our goal to catch BMW in 2015," she stated at the time. "[In] 2016 we'd like to be nipping at the heels. We're not in the market to stay number three forever, but it needs to be done sustainably, and it needs to be done with customer service in mind."
The new A4 (pictured), due here in 2016, will be a cornerstone of that plan.
Doyle argued that the most important thing is to "consistently grow" and that's something the brand has been doing for the last decade, both in terms of the spread of dealerships and overall sales.
The company last week opened Audi Centre Melbourne in the heart of the city, a $25 million undertaking that is now the world's second largest dealership (after Dubai). The showroom powerplay sets the scene for an ambitious growth strategy that could lead to virtual reality being used in dealerships.
Audi Australia's Managing Director was joined by Terence Johnsson, Vice President of Overseas Sales at Audi AG, during a media briefing preceding the opening of the new dealership. He echoed Doyle's thoughts and explained that Australia was increasingly crucial to Audi.
"When you talk about sustainable growth, that's what Australia has done so well."
Johnsson noted that Australia had leapfrogged several countries in the last 12 months, rising from 18th to the 13th largest global market for the brand, and would be in the top 10 for SUV sales by next year (it's currently 11th). Audi Australia's annual growth is sitting at just over 20 per cent; only two other global markets grew faster than Australia, Brazil with 100 per cent growth (off a much smaller base) and South Korea, with 41 per cent growth.
The luxury car segment is booming in Australia, thanks in large part to a renewed focus on product from the big three German marques. This has seen more affordable small car models hit the scene (with demand outstripping supply in many cases) such as the Mercedes-Benz A-Class and Audi A3, along with the rapid rise of SUVs in this market swelling the respective SUV ranks of the big three German prestige brands.
For the first 10 months of 2014 Audi has sold 16,014 cars, trailing BMW on 18,801 and Mercedes-Benz on 25,837. However Audi will argue its growth rate of 20.4 per cent – well above BMW's 10.7 and Benz's 14.6 per cent – puts it in a very strong position.
"We don't expect our competitors to rest on their laurels," said Doyle, who believes Audi can "continue the [sales] trajectory you see now."
"There's a lot more models coming. We're heading into a very exciting time. Suffice to say we have ambitious plans for coming years," he said, hinting at more models just over the horizon. These will include a brand new Audi A8 in 2017 and several new SUVs, including the Q1, Q2, Q4, Q6 and Q8.
Doyle argued that Audi will maintain its sales momentum even in flat markets – as has been the case here so far in 2014 – because the luxury market is expanding, and will continue to do so according to Doyle.
"There is opportunity for the premium market to grow. We compare our market here in Australia as a total market, so that's 90,000 premium vehicles out of 1.1 million [eight per cent], where in the UK it's up to around 14 per cent."
As an aside, Doyle notes that if the luxury car tax weren't so extreme, adding 33 per cent to the price of all vehicles over $61,884 (or $75,375 if they consume fuel at a rate less than 7.0L/100km), sales would be even stronger.
Nevertheless, he firmly believes strong competition is creating ideal conditions for new car buyers, despite the Aussie new car market experiencing a mild slump, down by 1.9 per cent compared to 2013.
"Right now there hasn't been a better time to buy a premium car in this country. The competitiveness of the pricing between the prestige brands is great, the choice is fantastic for the customers.
"I do think it'll continue despite the total market being flat, a function of the local manufacturers finding their equilibrium. But I don't think that'll take much longer [to sort out], but we'll see," observed Doyle.
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Written byFeann Torr
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