Audi plans to lift China production capacity

Shanghai, February 1 (Gasgoo.com) Volkswagen AG's luxury brand Audi plans to lift production capacity in China to meet surging demand in the world's largest auto market, China Daily reported today.

The German luxury car maker has plans to further expand capacity in China to meet its target of selling 250,000 cars annually by 2012 or 2013, Johannes Thammer, general manager of the Audi sales division at FAW Volkswagen, said last week.

Last year, Audi's China sales surged by 33% to 157,188 vehicles, retaining its lead in the country's premium car segment. China has become the company's second-biggest market in the world after Germany, where it delivered 228,844 units in 2009. 

"We will not allow production capacity to be a bottleneck for our sales growth," Thammer said. "We need to increase production capacity every year to keep pace with our sales momentum." FAW VW plans to expand its capacity from 660,000 units to one million units in the near future, he added.

The joint venture's expansion will focus on Audi, though it opened a new 100,000-unit facility in September last year in northeastern city of Changchun to raise the luxury brand's total production capacity in China to 200,000 units annually.

In China's premium car market, Audi competes with other two other German carmakers BMW and Mercedes-Benz, which are also in the race to expand production in China to further tap the local luxury car market.