It seems like the consistent big growth
has emboldened Volkswagen group owned German luxury car brand Audi, for
the car maker hopes to displace current market leader BMW India by 2014,
a year ahead of schedule. Previously, Audi aimed to emerge as the top
luxury car brand in India by 2015. However, the recent success that the
brand has been seeing in India has prompted the automaker to revise
forecasts. Audi India recently moved past Mercedes Benz to emerge as the
second largest luxury car maker in the Indian market despite being the
youngest of the German trio to begin doing business in India.
Its been quite interesting to see the way
Audi has grown over the past few years. The company which used to bet
on completely built units shifted tack and begun assembling many of its
best selling cars through the completely knocked down(CKD) route. This
resulted in prices of its cars decreasing sharply as CKD cars attract
just a fraction of the duties imposed on CBUs, leading to sales
increasing. Also, Audi began focusing on the the luxury SUV market with
the Q5 and Q7 range of luxury crossovers, which are the top sellers in
the high end luxury SUV segment in India.
2012 Audi Q3 Crossover Side Profile
This gave Audi a headstart over rivals
like BMW and Mercedes Benz, eventually leading to Audi moving past
Mercedes Benz last year. Another approach Audi has been taking in India
is the use of celebrities to promote its products. From launch events
which feature movie stars like Kartina Kaif, Lisa Ray and Gul Panag,
Audi has been actively conducting many events with celebrities gracing
many a show, leading to the brand having a bigger buzz than its
competitors who say that they prefer their cars to be the center of
attraction( and rightly so?).
2012 Audi Q3 Crossover Rear
However, this strategy has allowed Audi
to be in the public eye despite being a relatively late entrant into
India. Also, the brand has been very active on social media networks.
For instance, the brand conducted a Facebook poll of sorts in which it
allowed its fans to tag themselves on an image of the Audi S4, with the
large number of tags leading Audi to launch the high performance variant
in India. The other big move recently has been that of making a
distinctly Indian music video centered around the just-launched Audi Q3,
featuring Bollywood actor John Abraham. All in all, Audi is going all
out to become the top luxury brand in India and by the looks of it, the
automaker could get there in quite a hurry.
Courtesy: Economic Times
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