Reference Auto

The luxury car market in India is sizzling, and realising the potential, Audi is planning to nibble into the market of its German peers — Mercedes-Benz and BMW — by rolling out the R8 5.2FSI coupe powered by the upgraded V10 engine.

The Audi R8 5.2 FSI is highly customisable, giving a super luxury experience. The luxury car will be priced at Rs 1.32 crore (ex-showroom Maharashtra).

The earlier R8 variant with the V8 engine was voted ‘Supercar of the Year in 2008’ and Audi is bullish that this tag will help shore up the new R8 sales. The R8 will be brought into India as a completely built unit.

Powered by the mighty V10 engine, which has an astounding 525 PS power and 530 Nm torque, the new Audi R8 V10 can reach 100 km/hour in only 3.9 seconds and can achieve a top speed of 316 km/hour.

The luxury car maker has lined up ambitious plans for the country — it is planning to drive in new versions of the A8, A7 and A6 series this year itself.

While Mercedes-Benz and BMW have cars in the range of Rs 30 lakh to Rs 80 lakh, Audi’s cars are in the above Rs 80-lakh category.

The luxury market has seen phenomenal growth last year with the top two players, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, registering an annual sales growth of over 80 per cent and 70 per cent respectively. But the two car makers cater to the lower end of the luxury segment.

The higher-end luxury segment or the super luxury segment (above Rs 1 crore) is where Audi has placed its cars. Recently, this segment saw the entry of the Bugatti Veyron, priced at a whopping Rs 16 crore, making it India’s costliest car.

One of the reknowned players in this high-end segment, Rolls Royce, had seen a seven-fold rise in sales at 70 cars this year. And, this category is set for at least 100 per cent growth over the next five years, observe auto experts.

“We will bring in the A8 that will have a larger wheelbase around January-February,” Audi India director Michael Perschke said. “Then we will launch A7 in three months and around the fourth quarter of the year we will roll out the A6,” he added.

“In China and Japan, we are the top player. In India and in the US, we are growing very rapidly. In India, we intend to reach closer to our sales target of 30 per cent,“ he observed.

He admitted that with competition in the luxury car segment in India intensifying with the entry of a litany of luxury cars, Audi has been facing stiff competition.

Perschke was upbeat that the launches would help the company achieve a 23-25 per cent market share at least.

In 2010, Audi managed to sell 3,003 cars against 1,658 cars in 2009. It not only exceeded its target but also achieved record sales growth of 81%.

With the new R8 hitting the roads and Audi planning a slew of launches during the year, the car major will surely cement its position in India’s luxury car market and could replicate or even better last year’s sales growth.