However, the situation is far different from what luxury subsidiary of Volkswagen witnessed almost two decades ago. Audi is still roiling with safety scandal, from which it was subsequently cleared, thus, drying out its sales figures substantially. In the year 1992, the giant automaker was almost at a verge of pulling out its brand from the U.S market; however, fortunately, the company reversed the decision last minute. And now Audi is one of the fastest growing names in the luxury segment, setting consecutive annual sales records. Despite of the fact that it still lags behind the leaders in the segments such as BMW, Lexus and Mercedes Benz, the automaker is fast filling up the gap.
The auto sales for the North American market has been projected to be more than double to a dramatic figure of 300,000 by the end of the decade, alleges Rupert Stadler, Audi AG CEO. The sales projection for the global market is even more stimulating. In the competition with BMW to take a lead in global luxury auto sales, Audi is impressively running ahead of its current growth targets, selling approximately 1.46 million cars in the year 2012, and further aiming for 1.5 million in 2013. This goal was originally set for the year 2015, and projects to achieve it by this year itself. By the end of this decade, Audi CEO is expecting the volumes to reach a whopping 2 million.
To achieve the target, the company is planning to spend more than $14 billion across 2015, supporting a promising product program that has the capability to cover the growing demand in the luxury segment. This includes a host of latest crossover vehicles to small A3 hatchback or Audi Q6. In addition to new products, the leading automaker is further planning expansion of its production capacity globally, launching a new facility in Mexico and other strategic one in China.
However, Audi won’t be having an easy time achieving its goals. Last month, BWN was recovering its global sales figures, taking a lead on Audi with an assortment of latest products and strategic aggressive pricing.
