Audi A3 will be priced above the luxury hatchbacks
Joe King is the head of Audi India, and we get to speak to the man as he tells us more about the company’s current and future plans. Audi become the first luxury carmaker to have achieved the sales in excess of 10,000 units in a year for the Indian car market. Now, the company is ready to introduce the A3 sedan and the Cabriolet for our market, very soon.
Q1) Audi is again the first mover in the compact sedan segment. Will it be priced similar to the premium hatchbacks or will be more expensive?
Joe: We aren’t pricing it similar to the hatchbacks and we will be charging the extra premium for the A3 sedan. It is more premium that the hatchbacks and it will priced below the A4 sedan, there is a sweet spot and we believe that price segment has a huge potential. We will be introducing the A3 sedan with several engine options to give the customer a lot more options to pick and choose from.
Q2) We see the A3 Cabriolet at the Auto Expo, can we expect it also?
Joe: Well, we have bought it here. We are willing to try it out, as our research suggests it is good option for the consumers. We have a strong belief and it is breaking new ground, something we do. The Q3 S with the manual transmission worked well for us and we believe there is a great opportunity for us.
Q3) Can we expect a manual transmission in the A3?
Joe: Let us keep this as a bit od surprise for the A3 launch and that is when we can talk in more detail about it.
Q4) What are your sales target for this year?
Joe:
It will similar for this year, as per our calculations. The market will be not growing much and we can expect more sales from Tier 2 and 3 cities. We are expanding our reach to make it to 40 dealerships this year and we are looking forward to add more sales from these new dealerships as we believe the Tier 2 and 3 are bigger markets and they will drive our sales further.
Q5) Audi had showcased the armoured-versions of the A8 and can we hear more on that? Competition is speaking about it.
Joe:
Well, we can’t speak about it considering the security point of view for our clients and hence we do not speak much on it.
Q6) What is the current split in sales between the SUVs and the sedans?
Joe:
The current split between the sedans and SUVs is 60:40. The Q range has responded well and that’s why we have a 40 percent share of it.
Being born and brought up in a family that has been a part of the Automotive industry for over seven decades, Rachit has cars in his blood. Four wheelers are his childhood love, and he has grown up playing with bolts and spanners. To add more value to this passion, he studied automobile engineering and even karted at National level competitions.
Soon after that, he got into motoring journalism- where began the process of testing and evaluating cars. He has driven a wide range of cars beginning from Tata Nano to the Aston Martins, most of the cars that are currently sold in the Indian car market. Apart from this, he has also done many long road trips, and shall continue to do so. Rachit was one of the first journalists to take a Nano across the Golden Quadrilateral.
