Audi Announces Plans to Broaden Its Reach in North America
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| Audi, Volkswagen’s luxury vehicle division, surpassed its German competitor Mercedez-Benz in sales for the second month in a row.
According to a March 8 Reuters article, Audi’s revamped model helped boost sales by 4.2% in February, with 122,550 luxury cars and sport-utility vehicles sold — a new record for the month. An influx of demand throughout China, Germany and the United States for the A3 compact series and revamped A6 saloon helped encourage these sales. The news came within days of Audi announcing plans to expand its presence in the North American market in an effort to overtake BMW as the world’s largest maker of luxury vehicles, according to the Wall Street Journal. The big three German luxury car brands — Audi, Mercedez-Benz and BMW — currently make up about 80% of the world’s premium car market, and each brand is on the move to become the global leader. “Audi has outperformed all other luxury brands in being able to deliver an affordable car to the middle class with all the performance and features that one would expect to pay a much higher price for,” said Gabe Adams of Bluewater Performance, a VW and Audi repair service. Audi intends to use its Q5 sport-utility vehicle to bolster its plans for growth in North America. Throughout the last three years, U.S. sales of the Q5 have more than doubled, making it the top-selling Audi vehicle in one of the brand’s top markets. “The Q5 is a great vehicle to focus building sales upon as it gives you the best of both worlds,” said Adams. “It is small and agile like a sports car and has the same powertrain options that are available in the A4 and S4 platforms. You can take it out on a spirited drive down some windy roads with your entire family and pets comfortable riding in the car.” In order to expand the presence of the already popular Q5 within the American market, Audi will build a production facility in Mexico which will build these vehicles for sale in the U.S. as well as Europe. The plant should be producing these vehicles by sometime next year. “We see that the Audi brand here in the U.S. developed in a really good way,” Rupert Stadler, Audi Chief Executive, said. “Why shouldn’t we sell one day 300,000 units, as competitors do?” |
