Reference Auto

So, even the luxury car segment is on the boil with market leaders BMW and Mercedes-Benz (Merc) bringing in a slew of cars, including those that are economically priced, and Audi, which is placed third in the premium car segment, is also ramping up presence with the launch of the next generation Audi A4.

The new A4 will come in three engine variants — the 1.8-litre petrol TFSI, which will be priced at Rs 27.33 lakh, the two-litre diesel TDI will come for Rs 29.38 lakh and the three-litre TDI diesel, which will carry a price tag of Rs 38 lakh.

 

The fuel economy has been improved by over 10 per cent in the new model.

As far as safety goes, the new 2012 Audi A4 comes with anti-theft bolts, auto release function, anti-theft alarm and first aid kit. It has warning triangle along with side, front and rear airbags, setting a new standard in safety.

The exterior of the 2012 Audi A4 comes with Xenon Plus headlamps and with day-time running lights. It also has front fog lamps, LED rear lights and light as well as rain sensors.

In the inside, the new Audi A4 comes with leather-covered four-spoke malfunction steering wheel, seat upholstery that comes in Milano leathers, which is optional, front centre arm rest along with rear head rest.

Michael Perschke, head of Audi India, said the company will be scaling up presence by December, owing to the “massive demand” for its cars.

Audi will ramp up production capacity at its plant in Aurangabad (Maharashtra), by 50 per cent from the current 6,000 cars to 9,000 cars per year. Audi is part of the Volkswagen Group and shares the Aurangabad unit with group firm Skoda.

In the first four months of 2012, Audi sold more than 850 units of the A4 and the new model will surely make the A4 an enviable car, which could help Audi narrow its sales gap with the number two player, Mercedes-Benz.

Audi is having a dream run this fiscal, with the company managing to sell 43 per cent more cars during the first quarter of 2012 by logging sales of 2,831 units. In April itself, the luxury car giant sold 562 cars, a 50 per cent growth over the same month in the previous year.

These are encouraging figures, and if this is the initial response, Audi could end up surpassing its targeted sales of 8,000 cars in 2012 against 5,511 cars sold in 2011. Of this, one-fourth sales could be of the Audi A4.

Perschke said the new A4 “is not an improvement but an upgrade. The Audi A4 is currently in its eighth generation and has turned out to be a volume driver for us, with the model seeing sales of over 10 million since it was launched in the 1970s.”

So, sales of the A4 (with its price advantage of around Rs 30 lakh of course!), a luxury liner loaded with safety and other features, will be pivotal and is likely to see an overwhelming response, which could help Audi dislodge Mercedes-Benz from the second slot of the luxury car market in the medium term.