Audi, the German luxury car manufacturer, plans to hike production capacity at its plant in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, by 50 per cent from 6,000 units to 9,000 units per annum.
Addressing a press conference here to launch the company's next generation Audi A4, Michael Perschke, Head, Audi India, said the ramp-up by the end of this calendar would cater to increased offtake of the company's vehicles and new products planned for India.
Audi, a part of the Volkswagen Group, shares the Aurangabad manufacturing facility with group company Skoda.
Mr. Perschke said Audi planned to also set up a separate assembly line there for Audi Q3, a luxury sports utility vehicle (SUV) to be launched in June, and Audi Q7, to be launched end-2012.
The company was the leader in its segment in the first quarter of 2012 with the existing A4 having a 42 per cent share and Audi was number two in the Indian luxury car market, said the Audi India Head adding, “With our impressive sales in the first quarter of 2012, we decided to launch the new Audi A4 earlier than we had planned.”
In the first four months of 2012, the company sold more than 850 units of A4.
Overall, it sold 43 per cent more cars in the first quarter of 2012 at 2,831 units. In April, it sold 562 units, a 50 per cent growth over the same month year-ago. Audi is targeting sales of 8,000 units in 2012 against 5,511 units sold in 2011. Of this, it expects to sell 2,500-2,800 units of Audi A4.
The new A4 will be sold in three engine variants — 1.8-litre petrol TFSI priced at Rs.27.33 lakh; 2-litre diesel TDI priced at Rs.29.38 lakh and 3-litre TDI diesel available at Rs.38 lakh.
Mr. Perschke said the new A4 “is not a product improvement but an upgrade. Audi A4 is in its eighth generation and has been a volume seller for us having sold more than 10 million units globally since its launch in 1972.”
