The German luxury car major Audi from the Volkswagen Group, which has just lost its number one tag to compatriot Mercedes-Benz in the first quarter, today expressed optimism to retain its pole position this year too. "We are sure of maintaining the market leadership this year as well. April, which traditionally is a weak month, was very strong for us and we hope to maintain the momentum going forward, as we plan 10 new launches, including three brand new ones, and adding more dealerships," Audi India head Joe King told reporters here after launching a new variant of the sporty sedan RS 7 Sportback.
The new car comes at Rs 1.4 crore, ex-showroom Mumbai and New Delhi. With the new RS 7 Sportback launch on the heels of the limited edition R8 LMX and the all-new TT Coupe, the company is confident of strengthening its leadership and accelerate growth, King said. He also said the new RS 7 Sportback, powered by a 4-litre V8 engine with cylinder on demand technology, is available for sale at all its dealerships from today.
It can be noted that in the March quarter of 2015, the German major Mercedes toppled Audi in the market share sweeptake with a massive 40 per cent increase in sales at 3,566 units, after five years being the number two. Against this, Audi sold 3,181 units, up 10 per cent in the period. Since 2012, Audi has been the market leader, when it overtook the other German carmaker BMW.
However, for 2014, Audi remained the number one luxury car-maker selling 11,292 units, up 11.51 per cent over year-ago period, while Mercedes narrowed the gap to a slender 79 units at 11,213 units, up 17.5 per cent over 2013. Audi's market share stood at 34 per cent in year, which King had claimed was one of the highest for the company in the world. On dealership expansion, King said it will add about 15 per cent more network, which is around 15 more from the current 61 networks spanning 35 cities through a combination of showrooms and service facilities.
For both the companies 2014 and 2014-15 have been the best-ever, when the luxury car market grew just about 4 per cent. King said he sees the sector clipping at about 7 per cent. Against this the motown grew at 5.3 per cent in 2014-15.
