Luxury car sales zoom ahead in India despite economic slowdown

For instance, in spite of the challenging environment, German luxury car maker Audi has nearly doubled its sales in the first two months of the current year. While in January 2009, Audi India sold 109 units, as against 56 units sold in the corresponding period a year ago (up 95 percent), in February 2009, it sold 113 units, up from 58 units sold during the same month a year ago (YoY growth of 95 percent). In March 2009, Audi clocked lower growth (YoY increase of 56 percent) but made up in terms of higher volumes by selling a record 162 units (compared to 104 units sold in March 2008). Its annual sales are no less impressive - in 2008, Audi India sold 1050 units, up from 349 units sold in 2007 (a year-on-year jump of 201 percent).

"Our consistent growth in India demonstrates the growing acceptance of the Audi brand. Our market presence is rapidly increasing and Audi is looking to sustain this growth rate in the coming months," said Benoit Tiers, managing director of Audi India.Bullish about the Indian market, Tiers said he expects Audi to become a leader in luxury car market segment and "to gain additional market share we are looking forward to introducing new models and expanding our dealerships network to mini-metro cities this year."

"Though the (Indian) market is difficult, we are optimistic that Audi would achieve 60-70 percent growth this year (2009)," he said.Audi chairman Rupert Stadler also believes that the Indian auto market has huge potential. Despite a a significant fall in its sales in the global auto industry, Stadler is betting big on India's automobile market. "We are looking at selling 1500 units in India this year (YoY growth of 43 percent)," he said.

Currently, Audi is selling its popular sedans Audi A4, Audi A6, Audi A8, SUV Audi Q7, and sports cars Audi TT and Audi R8 in India through twelve dealerships set up in Delhi, Gurgaon, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Ludhiana, Chennai, Kochi and Kolkata. Incidentally, Audi sold 350 units of Q7 in 2008 in India, which is the highest selling figure in its class in the market.