Audi set to increase its market share in China

Shanghai August 10 (Gasgoo.com) German luxury carmaker Audi, owned by Volkswagen, said recently that its global sales rose 7.7% on the year in July to around 91,400 vehicles, spurred by strong demand in China and the U.S., of which Audi's China sales jumped 53% year on year to 20,537 vehicles, media reported Tuesday.

"We want to significantly increase (the) share of imported cars in China," Audi sales Chief Peter Schwarzenbauer said in a statement. "In July we more than tripled sales of our imported models in China compared with July 2009, to 3,696 units," he added.

In the first half of this year, the premium brand sold 108,600 units in China, up 64% from a year earlier, leading the high-end vehicle segment in China's auto market with a market share of 40%. In January-July 2010, Audi's China sales grew 17% year on year to 646,300 units.

With its current growth trend, Audi predicts that it will achieve its annual sales goal of 200,000 units by 2015. Meanwhile, to solve the problems arising from inadequate capacity, Audi will temporarily step up the exports to China and making plans to shorten the period for introducing cars to the country.

The German carmaker plans to import all derivatives of the Audi models ranging from A3 to A8 to China by 2015, with possibly 35 new products available to the Chinese consumers.