From VW official press news, its Audi brand enjoyed a 21.1% sales growth for the Chinese market in the first quarter of 2014, total sales is 124,520 units. The hottest selling model is the A3 hatchback and sedan.
Audi has 2 factories in China, one in Changchun and another in Foshan. It is also the best selling luxury brand in China. During the full year of 2013, Audi sold 492,000 units, BMW sold 390,700 units and Mercedes-Benz sold 228,000 cars.
There are multiple factors that contribute to Audi’s success.
1. The most important reason is VW’s early entry in the Chinese market, and it is among the earliest foreign car makers that set up localized factories in China. 23 years earlier, back in 1991 when VW set up its first Chinese factory in Changchun, the first vehicle it produced was the Audi 100, followed by the Audi 200, and later on the Audi A4, A4L, A6, A6L, A3, Q3, Q5. For VW brand, nowadays nearly all models sold in China are localized, including at least 9 major models. Audi has extremely good reputation within the Chinese population because it has been around for many years and most shops are very experienced in maintaining VW cars.
2. Audi cars are relatively cheap compared to other luxury brands. The popular model A3, MSRP starts at less than RMB 200,000; While a mid-level optioned Chinese market Camry easily costs more than that.
3. Audi has a special image within Chinese people. The made-in-China Audi A6, is a common government car for high level officer previously. Several years ago whenever you see an Audi car in China, as long as it is black and it is the A6, then it is probably a local high level government officer’s car. So this connect Audi’s brand image to “political power” in Chinese market.
4. Audi has a large dealership network in China. Today it has more than 340 dealers in over 150 cities, and Audi is planning to expand this to more than 500 dealerships by 2017.
Below photo is a Changchun-factory-made Audi A4L 3.2 Quattro.
Nowadays the Chinese market plays an important role in the global automobile industry. Many years ago, because of its cheap labor, many foreign companies opened oversea factories in China. Benefited by the huge exporting of goods, China accumulated a large amount of foreign currencies, this in turn provides an extremely strong purchasing power for Chinese consumer. So the reason why some new car models are exist today (for example Bentley is going to produce a SUV), is majorly due to the fact that the Chinese market need it, many consumers there want to pay the premium to buy such a car if it exist.
Now, let’s think about the rumored BMW 720i. I believe there may be a 720Li model for China.
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