Audi plans sales of 1000 cars in India in 2009

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Audi will look at rolling out 1,000 units of its Audi A4 and the Audi A6 models in India before the end of this year.

The German luxury car manufacturer has said it will be kicking off its expansion plan in Tier II cities during the year. As part of this plan, five new dealers will be appointed, the company said.

The manufacturing unit at Aurangabad will see as many as 1,000 Audi A4 and the Audi A6 models being rolled out. Speaking after opening the new showroom in Mumbai, company top brass said that Audi India has sold more number of cars in 2008 than it had targeted. It said it has sold 1,050 cars in 2008.Audi India’s assembly unit in Aurangabad has present capacity of 2,000 units, he said.

Expressing bullishness on its India operations, the company said that despite the slowdown, the emerging markets like India remains less affected.It said that sales of luxury cars has been affected world-wide due to the global turmoil.

Audi India has in fact grown by 200 per cent during year 2008 as against what it had achieved a year earlier. The company is now lining up ground to launch its new car, the Audi Q5, before the end of year 2009 in India. However, the final date is not yet decided on, said company sources.

The company is having a dream run with all models doing well after it reduced the prices of Audi A8 by Rs 279,000, Audi A6 by Rs 151,000, Audi A4 by Rs 121,000, and Audi Q7 by Rs 185,000. It said that the Audi A4 has hit the market with prices starting at RS 2.85 million onwards, the Audi A6 from Rs 3.82 million onwards, the Audi Q7 from Rs 5.24 million onwards and the Audi A8 from Rs 7.11 million onwards.