Audi to replace 4S stores with exhibition halls

Shanghai, August 4 (Gasgoo.com) Johannes Thammer, the new Managing Director of the Audi Sales Division in China, announced that new Audi dealerships will operate in urban exhibition halls, rather than in the traditional 4S stores.

Last Saturday, Johannes Thammer attended Audi’s first Asian urban exhibition hall -- Ningbo Zhongji Hall’s opening ceremony. Audi is confident of reaching its sales target of 200,000 vehicles by 2012, he said to China Business Network Daily.

Audi is pursuing a balanced as well as all-around development, so now we focus on development in southern China, Thammer said. The first Asian exhibition hall in Ningbo has fully demonstrated Audi’s plan to improve its southern Chinese market.

Audi has launched its overall service network upgrading to maintain its leading position in China’s high-end car market where various luxury models such as Lexus thrive to compete with Audi. From now on, new Audi dealerships do business in urban exhibition halls, which, different from the identical 4S store, are flexible in the interior design and may improve the floor space utilization rate.

Following the Ningbo Zhongji hall, five more Audi exhibition halls will be built within the year and will expand to other cities such as Shijiazhuang and Changchun. The Audi exhibition halls are looking to number 30 around China next year.