Audi aims for boost in its sales to justify US plant

The Detroit News - Volkswagen AG's premium Audi brand expects to boost U.S. auto sales in the next few years to levels that would justify a hefty investment for an American assembly plant.

"We think we'll be able to reach volumes that will facilitate a confident decision about U.S. manufacturing before the year 2015," Johan de Nysschen, president of Audi of America, told reporters Tuesday.

The German luxury carmaker has been weighing building a U.S. plant for several years. Rivals BMW and Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz produce vehicles in the United States, and its sister brand, VW, has just built a plant in Chattanooga, Tenn., as part of a $5 billion investment in North America.

Audi sold a record 101,629 vehicles in the United States last year, amounting to close to 10 percent of its global sales of 1.1 million vehicles.

At a briefing about Audi's U.S. operations, de Nysschen predicted Audi's sales would rise to 114,000 vehicles this year and to about 120,000 in 2012.

"By the middle of the decade, we could be somewhere between 130,000 and 140,000 units," he said, and "break the 150,000-mark early in the second half of the decade."

Last year, BMW and Mercedes each sold more than 220,000 cars and light trucks in the United States, just behind Toyota Motor Corp.'s Lexus brand, which sold 229,329 vehicles.

De Nysschen said Audi offers lower incentives than most of its luxury rivals and strives to increase sales by offering appealing models packed with cutting-edge technology.

Over the next 24 to 30 months, it plans to offer clean-diesel versions of its A6 and A8 sedans and Q5 SUV in the United States, he said.

"They have proved to be very adept at new product development," said George Peterson, president of AutoPacific Inc. in Tustin, Calif. "Given the growth of the market, their volume targets are reasonable."

Audi may have lagged its rivals in the U.S. market, but its longstanding and dominant presence in China has strengthened its global position.

The carmaker aims to overtake BMW by 2015 to become the world's No. 1 luxury carmaker.

This year, Audi expects to increase sales by around 10 percent to more than 1.2 million vehicles, said CEO Rupert Stadler in Ingolstadt, Germany, where Audi is based.

The carmaker is rolling out 13 new or upgraded models this year, including a revamped A6 sedan, a Q3 compact SUV and a hybrid Q5.

Audi doubled its net income last year to 2.6 billion euros, or $3.6 billion, on a 19 percent rise in revenue to 35 billion euros, or $50 billion.