Gradually the German car maker Audi has climbed the ladder of growth with 39 per cent sales in the month of January 2012. The top three places in the luxury car segment have the dominance of Germans, which has now created a situation where the clash between the titans will decide who will be at the top spot. Audi is already giving a tough competition to everyone in the luxury segment and with the declaration of an aggressive expansion plan, it will heat up the battle to become number one in the category of luxury cars.
This news is good for the Indian customers because now they will have more choices in the luxury carssegment, which would come in at cheaper prices. For now Audi’s Q7 is being imported as a CBU (Completely Built Unit).Now the company plans to assemble this car in India which will make the 110 per cent duty come down to a mere 30 per cent if the Q7 SUV is brought in as a CKD (Completely Knocked Down) Kit. This will further decrease the duty by 10 per cent if the company intends to assemble its transmission and engine in India. If the company is planning of assembling the Q7 at its Aurangabad based assembly plant, it will result in the price of Audi Q7 SUV falling in lakhs making its demand rise instantaneously. The company’s plan to bring in seven new fresh models in the Indian automobile market this year will add on to the dominating line of vehicles it has to offer. But the details of only two models are out as of now. The primary model being the Audi A8 L Security, which is the top security version of the current Audi A8 and the secondary in this line is the Q3 SUV, which is smaller than the existing SUVs Audi offers and this shall directly compete against the BMW X1. The Audi Q3 is expected to be sold out in bulk because it will be assembled in the Aurangabad assembling plant in India.Moreover, it will be priced in an aggressive manner, which might make the automobile market of India go all gaga over the Q3 SUV.
Since Audi wants to go a bit further and launch the new version of Q7, which has a V12 500 bhp engine making it the fastest SUV in the Indian market. But the engineers at Audi are somewhat worried about the dusty conditions of Indian terrain, since ceramic brakes come as standard fitment in the V12 Q7, which are very sensitive to dust. This has forced the company to do some more research so that it can have a smooth launch of the V12 Q7 sometime in near future. With sports car like RS5, R8 V10 and R8 currently on sale for some time, Audi have re-launchedthe TT this month as well. The 2.0 TFSi 208bhp car may start at Rs.40 lakh and could reach upto the top end with the RS of Audi. Head, Audi India, Michael Perschke is believed to have said that they are looking forward to get the new TT to its Indian customers at a very attractive rate. The most important car for the Audi right now could be the brand new A3.This car will definitely make it to India as quick as a right-hand-drive adaptation of this still-to-be launched premium saloon is available worldwide. The slanting engine for capacity-efficient packaging will make this A3 saloon a beneficial introduction for the company in the Indian automobile market.