Audi in battle for pole position
02-23-2006, 09:46 AM
#1
AudiWorld Super User
Thread Starter
Audi in battle for pole position
Audi, the luxury car arm of Germany's Volkswagen, yesterday put itself on an aggressive growth course to become the self-proclaimed most successful premium auto brand in theworld through a near-doubling of sales in the next decade.
It hopes to sell 1.4m cars by 2015, compared with 830,000 last year, as the Bavaria-based carmaker seeks to introduce new products such as the A5 coupe, as well as enter new markets.
Audi's move is the latest ambitious sales targets from a luxury carmaker. BMW, Audi's domestic rival, is targeting 1.4m sales at a group level - which includes Mini and Rolls-Royce - by 2008 and is almost there, selling 1.33m last year. It also aims to become "the world's most successful premium carmaker" and
executives regard Audi's targets with wry amusement. Mercedes has a sole target of a 7 per cent return on sales by 2007, ahead of Audi's 5.3 per cent last year.
"No car brand will grow as strongly as Audi over the next few years," said Martin Winterkorn, chief executive.
Rupert Stadler, chief financial officer, told the Financial Times that success was not synonymous with size and had more to do with margins. "Size alone is not enough. But the qualitative results situation - profitability - is the building block for any company."
Mr Stadler also played down concerns that premium brands werespreading themselves too thinly by aiming for such ambitious sales growth and that clients could be put off because a product was no longer exclusive: "In the car industry the number of segments is much higher than before. We need to find attractive
niches to fill and then we have an enormous potential."
Mr Stadler said Audi also saw further potential in China and the Middle East or Australia.
Seat, the loss making Spanish carmaker owned by VW but which is part of the Audi brand group, is in the middle of a restructuring that should
bring positive results by 2008, its head, Andreas Schleef, said yesterday.
Audi AG, which includes Lamborghini but not Seat, boosted pre-tax profit by 15 per cent to Euros 1.3bn. Mr Winterkorn said he expected another record year for sales in 2006.
It hopes to sell 1.4m cars by 2015, compared with 830,000 last year, as the Bavaria-based carmaker seeks to introduce new products such as the A5 coupe, as well as enter new markets.
Audi's move is the latest ambitious sales targets from a luxury carmaker. BMW, Audi's domestic rival, is targeting 1.4m sales at a group level - which includes Mini and Rolls-Royce - by 2008 and is almost there, selling 1.33m last year. It also aims to become "the world's most successful premium carmaker" and
executives regard Audi's targets with wry amusement. Mercedes has a sole target of a 7 per cent return on sales by 2007, ahead of Audi's 5.3 per cent last year.
"No car brand will grow as strongly as Audi over the next few years," said Martin Winterkorn, chief executive.
Rupert Stadler, chief financial officer, told the Financial Times that success was not synonymous with size and had more to do with margins. "Size alone is not enough. But the qualitative results situation - profitability - is the building block for any company."
Mr Stadler also played down concerns that premium brands werespreading themselves too thinly by aiming for such ambitious sales growth and that clients could be put off because a product was no longer exclusive: "In the car industry the number of segments is much higher than before. We need to find attractive
niches to fill and then we have an enormous potential."
Mr Stadler said Audi also saw further potential in China and the Middle East or Australia.
Seat, the loss making Spanish carmaker owned by VW but which is part of the Audi brand group, is in the middle of a restructuring that should
bring positive results by 2008, its head, Andreas Schleef, said yesterday.
Audi AG, which includes Lamborghini but not Seat, boosted pre-tax profit by 15 per cent to Euros 1.3bn. Mr Winterkorn said he expected another record year for sales in 2006.
02-23-2006, 11:32 AM
#6
AudiWorld Super User
Thread Starter
Price increases since 2002 ...
1.8t quattro stick
2002 - $37,225
2003 - $37,310
2004 - $38,295
2005 - $38,895
2.0t quattro stick
2006 - $40,750
That's 8.65% increase in 5 model years. 1.7% per year.
The cars have improved in many ways, so the price increase is not just to cover inflation.
2002 - $37,225
2003 - $37,310
2004 - $38,295
2005 - $38,895
2.0t quattro stick
2006 - $40,750
That's 8.65% increase in 5 model years. 1.7% per year.
The cars have improved in many ways, so the price increase is not just to cover inflation.
