Audi targeting 30 pc marketshare, to launch A-8 by Dec

Currently, Audi enjoys around 24 per cent of the luxury car market in India, that is pegged at around 15,000-20,000 units of cars.

"We are looking at increasing our marketshare as well as focusing on profitabilty. By next year we target around 30 per cent share in the Indian market. We expect a huge growth coming from the metros as well as Tier II cities," Audi India Head Micheal Perschke told PTI on the sidelines of the launch of its new showroom here.

The company is looking at selling about 1,000 units during the September-December period this year. So far this year it has sold around 1,876 cars (January-August), as against 1,128 units in the year-ago period.

In August alone, it sold 250 cars, a 46 per cent jump from 171 units in the same period last year. The German carmaker of the Volkswagon Group, makes cars such as Skoda and Volkswagon, is looking at increasing the dealership network to 18 across the country from the current 10.

"We are looking at increasing our distribution network. India is a strategic market and is growing as demand is coming from smaller cities such as Bhubaneswar and Patna in the Eastern region. We are looking at a 45 per cent growth next year. We are planning to open more showrooms in cities such as Surat, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Indore and Coimbatore," he said.

The premium carmaker is also looking at launching its highend A-8 model by end this year for Indian consumers, he said.  Currently, Audi has showrooms in Ahmedabad, New Delhi, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Kochi, Jaipur, Mumbai, Gurgaon, Chandigarh and Bangalore. The auto major had last year sold 1.5-million units globally with China being the largest market.

"India is a key growth market and we are confident of our performance this year and will grow by 40 per cent. We will also invest more in expanding capacity at our Aurangabad unit. We are looking at producing 3,000 cars in India by next year," Audi AG's Executive Director (Overseas) Andra Konsbruck said.

The company plans to invest Euro 30-million in India by 2015, of which it has already used 60 per cent in expanding the dealership network, setting up manufacturing unit and brand-building.