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Audi, the German luxury car maker, plans to get into the used car business in India by the year-end. The company expects this business to account for 10 to 20 per cent of its new car sales.
“By the end of this year, we will start our used car business under the Audi Approved Plus brand,” Audi India Head, Mr Michael Perschke, told reporters here.
Audi A6 launch
The company on Wednesday launched the new version of its executive class sedan, A6, priced between Rs 37.7 lakh and Rs 47 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). The four variants will be available in all 13 Audi dealerships across India.
Assembled at its Aurangabad facility, the car claims a mileage of 21 kmpl.
Expansion drive
The company will be expanding its dealer's network from 13 to 18 by the end of 2011.
“By 2011, we will have 18 dealers pan-India, with plans for new dealerships in markets like Coimbatore, Indore and Lucknow among others,” Mr Perschke said.
“This would mean 600 extra jobs for our India operations by 2013. We will be hiring skilled talent at three levels – corporate, dealership and production,” he said.
Doubling output
With the launch of the new sedan, the company plans to double the production of Audi from its Aurangabad plant.
“From September, we will start double shifts, which will increase our annual output to 6,000 units from the current 3,000 units in a single shift,” Mr Perschke said.
Audi India investment figure was put at €30 million, of which around €20 million has been utilised so far.
Sales target
The company is targeting sales of over 5,000 units this year, up from 3,003 cars sold last year. It sold 3,145 units in the January-July period against 1,626 units in the same period last year, up 93 per cent.
“Our target is to have 25 per cent Indian luxury car market share by 2015 and we are on track,” Mr Perschke said.
Product range
This year, excluding the new A6, the company has launched five models in 13 different engines – Audi A8 L, Audi R8 V10, Audi R8 Spyder, Audi A7 Sportback and Audi RS5.
Mr Perschke said that Audi was also considering bringing cars in the lower segment by emulating a top-down approach.
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