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Zipping ahead in the China market
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-04-23 09:14 With its sales volume crossing the 100,000-unit mark last year, a 25 percent increase over 2006, German premier car producer Audi AG has strengthened its leading position in China's luxury sedan segment. The strong sales have also made China Audi's second biggest market, climbing up from the fourth position in 2006. At the group's annual press conference last month in its headquarters Ingolstadt, Germany, Rupert Stadler, chairman of the board of management of Audi AG announced the company aims to double its China sales by 2015 to 200,000 units. Rupert Stadler here shares his views and his company's strategy with China Daily reporter Li Fangfang. Q: Audi beat BMW and Mercedes-Benz last year in China, becoming the top premier manufacturer with annual sales of more than 100,000 units. How will Audi repeat such success in global market? A: The Audi board began to plan the company's strategy for long-term development several years ago. We set an ambitious annual sales target of 1.5 million units by 2015. Of course, to achieve the goal, we will need to invest more and launch more products. In the next few years, our average investment will touch 2 billion euros. Apart from launching new products and pumping up our investment, emerging markets are also important to reach the goal. In China, we have set a sales target of 200,000 units by 2015, which means we will bring more high-quality products to the country. Q: What are the new products that will be seen in the China market? A: Our products in China are very competitive. And we are manufacturing A6L and A4 locally. We have also launched some of our classic models that are popular in Europe and fit the China market as well, by importing them, such as A8L, Q7, TT and R8 Roadster. We have just unveiled our A5 coupe in China at the Beijing Auto Show this week. We are still considering new models for China, which I cannot disclose now, but I'm sure our Chinese customers won't be disappointed. (For more biz stories, please visit Industries)
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