China Becomes Biggest Market for Audi

Jan 9 2012

Most car owners will remember the days, not so long ago, when China was referred to as an “emerging market” and carmakers took little notice of the slowly awakening giant.  A few years later and China is the biggest car market in the world.  German car manufacturer Audi has also confirmed that this country has become its biggest market globally.

Audi sold 313,036 cars in Hong Kong and China last year – more than in any other country where the company is active.  The vast majority of these sales went to car finance buyers.

What is even more significant is that Audi is once again the leader in China’s premium car segment.

Sales of imported cars grew by a whopping 89% in 2011, while sales of locally built cars went up by 29%.

The Audi A6L is very popular in China, with sales of 113,232 last year.  The Audi Q7 sold 19,063 units and 54,260 Audi Q5s were sold.  The highest growth in sales was recorded by the Audi A8L, with 12,425 units, representing an increase of 153% compared to the previous year.

Audi AG board member for sales and marketing, Peter Schwarzenbauer, says that actual sales in 2011 exceeded all forecasts by a substantial number.

Meanwhile the company has expanded the production capacity at its FAW-VW joint venture to 300,000 vehicles per year in 2011.  Next year a new plant will open in Foshan that will have a capacity of 150,000 to 200,000 units per year.

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