Food for thought: Audi wants to double sales in NA within six years (from WSJ).
01-29-2003, 09:34 AM
#1
AudiWorld Super User
Thread Starter
Food for thought: Audi wants to double sales in NA within six years (from WSJ).
<b>It appears that Audi has aggressive growth plans for the US:</b>
"Top executives at major European luxury brands, including Volkswagen AG's Audi unit, Volvo Cars, Saab, Porsche, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, said in recent interviews they are banking on roughly doubling U.S. sales over the next five years or so... 'The Audi brand is underrepresented in North America,' Audi Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn declared recently at the Detroit auto show. 'We want to grow the brand. We have a strategy.' The goal: North American sales of more than 180,000 vehicles within five or six years, up from 85,700 last year.'"
<b>More dealers sound excellent, but do we really need another SUV?</b>
"Audi, Saab and Jaguar face the additional disadvantage because they aren't riding the boom in sport-utility vehicles. Audi and Saab are developing SUVs but are well behind Porsche and Volvo. Earlier this month in Detroit, Audi showed a concept, Pikes Peak Quattro, a muscular cross between an SUV and a sports car that was designed specifically for U.S. tastes. If approved for production, it could hit the road in 2005, Mr. Hunt said. But Audi has other challenges, including just 68 dealers, which it hopes to increase to at least 150."
<b>And the A3 is coming:</b>
"Thinking along the same lines [smaller, cheaper cars increase sales volume across the brand], Audi plans to bring its A3 compact sedan [sic] to the U.S., said Len Hunt, vice president at Audi of America."
<i>(From today's Wall St. Journal print edition and Jan. 23 online edition.)</i>
Overall, I think this means good things for things like service and support, since they'll be throwing money at making the Audi experience more appealing. My only hope is that they don't get stretched too thin, or that in order to cater to the broad middle carbuying market, they don't start to dilute the essence of what has made Audi appealing. Plus, we've heard it all before - we'll see if things really change.<ul><li><a href="http://www.wsj.com">Wall St. Journal - requires password.</a></li></ul>
"Top executives at major European luxury brands, including Volkswagen AG's Audi unit, Volvo Cars, Saab, Porsche, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, said in recent interviews they are banking on roughly doubling U.S. sales over the next five years or so... 'The Audi brand is underrepresented in North America,' Audi Chief Executive Martin Winterkorn declared recently at the Detroit auto show. 'We want to grow the brand. We have a strategy.' The goal: North American sales of more than 180,000 vehicles within five or six years, up from 85,700 last year.'"
<b>More dealers sound excellent, but do we really need another SUV?</b>
"Audi, Saab and Jaguar face the additional disadvantage because they aren't riding the boom in sport-utility vehicles. Audi and Saab are developing SUVs but are well behind Porsche and Volvo. Earlier this month in Detroit, Audi showed a concept, Pikes Peak Quattro, a muscular cross between an SUV and a sports car that was designed specifically for U.S. tastes. If approved for production, it could hit the road in 2005, Mr. Hunt said. But Audi has other challenges, including just 68 dealers, which it hopes to increase to at least 150."
<b>And the A3 is coming:</b>
"Thinking along the same lines [smaller, cheaper cars increase sales volume across the brand], Audi plans to bring its A3 compact sedan [sic] to the U.S., said Len Hunt, vice president at Audi of America."
<i>(From today's Wall St. Journal print edition and Jan. 23 online edition.)</i>
Overall, I think this means good things for things like service and support, since they'll be throwing money at making the Audi experience more appealing. My only hope is that they don't get stretched too thin, or that in order to cater to the broad middle carbuying market, they don't start to dilute the essence of what has made Audi appealing. Plus, we've heard it all before - we'll see if things really change.<ul><li><a href="http://www.wsj.com">Wall St. Journal - requires password.</a></li></ul>
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
Fxhomie
A6 / S6 (C6 Platform) Discussion
19
04-07-2005 01:30 PM