Ingolstadt: Having achieved leadership position in the Indian luxury vehicles segment, German auto major Audi is focusing on long-term sustainability of its business while maintaining the top slot.
"We need to make sure that dealers with our franchise make more money than others. So the most important part is the foundation that we are building to ensure long term leadership of Audi in India and no just rather looking at monthly volumes and competition," Member of the Board of Management of Audi AG Luca de Meo told PTI.
For the last two years, Audi has been the largest selling luxury vehicle brand in India, ahead of rivals Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Last year it sold 10,851 units. In comparison, rival Mercedes-Benz sold 10,201 units last year, while BMW India sold 6,812 units.
On Audi's approach in the Indian market, Meo said: "I think we need to look at the issue not only from volume point of view but most importantly we are keen to be the most desired brand, we need to keep serving our customers."
The maker of various popular brands like Q5 sports utility vehicle and A3 sedan, also wants to maintain a bigger presence in the premium luxury segment.
"No matter what the situation is, the minimum target we need to have is to keep a high market share in the premium segment no matter what the volatility," Meo said.
The company currently has a market share of 34 per cent in the Indian premium car segment, which is one of the highest for the company in the world, he added.
"It is one of the highest in the world. It means every time a Indian potential customer looks for a premium car he would always put Audi in the shopping list and this thing is an asset," he said, adding the company had a long term perspective when it came to the Indian market.
When asked about the used car business, Meo said the development of the segment in emerging markets is a top priority.
"We are developing a very strong strategy, which we are rolling out everywhere. Our target worldwide is to get 50 per cent of the young car users in our network coming back to our showrooms again," Meo said.
Terming the used car business as key part of the company's strategy in India, he said: "With the market being so young the car park is not that big (in India) yet but certainly it is growing and last year the volume tripled obviously from a very low base..so it is a very key part of our strategy".
When asked if the company is looking to launch models in India to compete with Mercedes's A-Class and BMW's 1-Series, Meo said: "We took the view with connection to the customers demand and sedans is what the consumers were looking for, I think the results have proven that it was a right decision."
Meo added: "You have to listen to the market. It is very important to know what the customer is looking for... The customers are just asking for more and more sedans. There is no plan to bring in the smaller models in the short term."
When asked about the launch of electric and hybrid models with e-tron technology, he said: "Certainly it is under scope, it is under discussion. I think we can look at these in the future but there are no firm plans at this stage".
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