Audi confident in the future development of the luxury car market in China

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai May 9) - Despite the fact that overall growth in the Chinese luxury vehicle market has slowed to four percent in the first quarter of this year, Audi has still managed to pull in strong sales results. The manufacturer's sales growth is now at 14 percent, with total sales volume nearing 110,000 vehicles, far outpacing its competitors. In a recent interview cited by the China Youth Daily, Audi CEO Rupert Stadler said that he didn't believe that growth in the luxury vehicle market were slowing down, stating that reduced growth levels are mainly due to falling sales of its competitors. Dr. Stadler expects the growth rate of the Chinese market this year to fall between ten percent and 15 percent, which he points out is a relatively good result when compared to other markets across the globe.

Two Audi models, the new A3 sedan (pictured above) and new S3 sedan, made their worldwide debuts at the recently concluded Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition. Five more models made their regional debuts at the show. The A3 will be manufactured at FAW-VW's factory in Foshan, Guangdong, with its market release scheduled for next year. Furthermore, Audi also announced the Chinese market release of domestically manufactured and imported versions of the new Q5 (pictured below) at the show.

Despite the respectable growth rates it achieved in the first quarter of the year, Dominique Boesch, general manager of FAW-VW's Audi sales division, cautions that it is hard to predict how sales growth in the Chinese luxury car market will be in the latter half of the year. However, much like Dr. Stadler, he states that the manufacturer is confident in the long-term development of the segment. He points out that the Q5 has already managed to accumulate over 200,000 sales since its release in the Chinese market.

Dr. Stadler also commented on the enormous growth potential of the Chinese luxury vehicle market. He points out that, on average, there is approximately between 80 to 100 automobiles for every 1,000 people in China. By comparison, that number is around 500 in Europe, proof, he says, of the enormous development potential in China. However, he also mentioned that manufacturer will avoid expanding too quickly in order to prevent excess production capacity. He states that Audi will not rely on continuous price cuts in order to boost its sales, but rather focus on quality growth.

When asked about the recent trend among Sino-foreign joint ventures to release new own brands, Dr. Stadler answered that Audi has no need to mimic them. According to Dr. Stadler, Audi has put a great deal of effort to implement domestic production of its A6, A6L, A4L, Q5, Q3, various transmission systems and 2.0 L engines. The manufacturer has also established a Pan-Asia research and development center in Beijing, which oversees R&D work for a variety of systems, including navigation systems. He is confident that this work will be of great help to Audi's Chinese partners, who will learn more about how to use new technologies.