The battle of the Teutons just got
interesting even as Audi India edged passed competitor and compatriot
BMW India in the June 2012 sales. Audi managed to sell 759 cars amidst
difficult market conditions even as BMW could manage only 750 units, 9
units lesser than that of Audi India. The Volkswagen group owned car
maker Audi is fast catching up with BMW in terms of sales in the Indian
car market on the back of new launches and aggressive price positioning.
While Audi aims to displace BMW from the top perch in India by 2014,
the sales momentum currently seems to heavily be in Audi’s favor to
achieve that feat much earlier.
Now considering the fact that Audi has
been the last amongst the three Teuton luxury car makers including BMW
and Mercedes Benz to India, the strong sales of the German brand is even
more creditable. While BMW India’s sales figures have showed a decline
by about 12% (2,088 units in April to June 2012 as compared to 2,377
units in the same time last year) between April to June 2012, as
compared to the same period last year, Audi India has showed a growth of
a whopping 52%, from 1,254 units to 1,908 units.
Mercedes Benz, the third largest player
in India’s luxury car market also showed a fall in sales, from 1,663
units to 1,257 units in the same period of time. So, Audi seems to have
clearly bucked the trend in India by showing big growth in car sales.
Looking closer at Audi’s phenomenal growth and BMW’s steep fall, a big
chunk of sales for Audi has come from its luxury crossover range
comprising of the likes of the Q3, Q5 and Q7. The Q3 crossover, which
was launched a month ago, managed to bag over 500 order within days of
its launch. similarly, the Q5 and Q7 have been big sellers for the
brand, along with the Audi A4 sedan also doing decent volumes.
2012 F30 BMW 3 Series Sedan
BMW, on the other hand has a single
crossover, the X1 bringing in the bulk of its volumes by being the best
seller in its model range. While the F10 5 series sedan is also a brisk
seller, topping its segment, BMW has been hit hard by the outgoing 3
Series sedan’s fall in sales due to the anticipation of the new F30
model that will replace it very soon. So, once the F30 BMW 3 Series
sedan arrives, BMW could gain back market share rapidly. Therefore, it
is still early days to discount BMW India from mounting a strong
feedback as the facelifted X1 crossover is also due in the next few
months. Mercedes Benz, for its part, will try to get back in the volumes
game by launching the B-Class sports tourer, the most affordable car in
its line up later this month.
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