Audi drives in new A8L Sedan at Rs 1 Crore

Posted CLA india

At a time when the luxury car market in India appears to be slowing down, German car manufacturer Audi today announced the launch of its A8L Sedan.

Priced at Rs 1.0075 crore (ex-showroom Maharashtra), the new Audi A8 L Sedan is fitted with a 4.2 TDI engine and will be available at showrooms across the country.

“After the overwhelming response to the Audi A8 L Sedan, we have launched a variant of the flagship brand with a powerful diesel engine. The car epitomises a new level of sporty performance combined with technical intelligence and engineering art,” said Micheal Perschke, Head, Audi India.

The luxury car market in India has seen a growth of around 20-25 per cent with total sales of 30,000 units a year.

“The luxury car segment in India is going through a difficult period right now because of the macro-economic factors that are not favourable like interest rates, GDP growth and lower production output among others. There is much more competition now and margins are coming under pressure,”

he said of the luxury car market.

In January this year, Audi had said that it would look at sales of about 8,000 units by the year-end.

“Last year, we sold around 5,500 units. We expect that the actual sales numbers for this year would be more than 8,000,”

he said, adding that the company’s ambition was to maintain a “solid” No. 2 position in the country.

He also said the company expects 2014 to be the year when they would become the biggest player in the luxury car segment in India. Between January and July, the company sold 4,680 cars as against 3,145 during the same period last calendar year, registering a growth of 49 per cent.

The German manufacturer is already producing three models in India. The Audi Q7 would be introduced by this year-end, making it the fourth car to be produced in India. The company board members are also considering production of the Q3 in India and a decision on the same is expected soon.

Audi has already introduced five new models this year and plans to launch a sixth one by this year-end. In comparison, it had launched five new models in the whole of last year. Audi currently has dealerships in 15 locations in the country and is planning to raise this to 25 by this year-end.