Audi past BMW as NO.1 player in Indian luxury car space

Audi Motors is touching new skies of success with launch of every new car. Recently it runs past BMW Motors as number one player in Indian luxury car space.

VW Group-owned, Ingolstadt based Audi has overtaken its rival BMW as number one player in Indian luxury car space for the first time in first quarter of 2013. And that is not all bad news for BMW: ET learns Mercedes Benz has regained second position, relegating Munich-based BMW to 3^rd place.According to people familiar with sales data, BMW car market in India sold 1465 units in January to March of 2013 of which 1410 units were BMW-branded cars and 55 were Mini-branded cars, a year-on-year decline of 40 percent. Audi in same period sold 2,616 units posting a growth of 15 percent and Mercedes Benz India sold 2009 units growing by over 5 per cent. When contacted, BMW India said company is not in a month on month race in individual markets. "The BMW Group is a very successful global company and continues to strive for a worldwide balance in sales. We will continue to our success story in India in 2013 due to the availability of new models such as the BMW 1 Series in the third quarter and a full year availability of the BMW 3 Series this year," the BMW spokesperson added.

Michael Perschke, Head, Audi India told ET, if numbers are true then Audi is not  the only number one in first quarter of 2013 but for whole of FY-13. "I think 2013 will be a very competitive year. It will be like an F1 competition, neck-and-neck racing and not like football league in Germany. At least we would end 2013 as a strong number two or we would be defending our number 1 position if things fall in place, as we have planned," he added. Perschke says, whichever position year 2013 ends, AudiMotors will be number one in 2014 with more product offerings from company and expansion of network. Having sold 9,375 units in 2012, BMW India posted a flat growth last year, as its Ingolstadt based German competitor Audi sped to a strong 63 percent growth with sales of little over 9,000 units, sniffing at number one position held by BMW Motors.

Few days back, Philip Von Sahr, president, BMW Group India told for him number one position does not matter. "The lead of one month here or there does not matter. What is important for us is to grow sustainably with profits, and our endeavour will be to build a strong brand and rank number one in sales and customer satisfaction," he added. BMW overtook Mercedes Benz as number one player in luxury car segment in 2009 and as Audi gained, Mercedes fell to 3^rd position in first half of 2012. In 2012, BMW did not see growth, selling 9,375 units, while Audi grew at 63 percent to sell just over 9,000 units. Jaguar Land Rover and Volvo also posted growth of 32 percent and 150 percent respectively albeit on a low base. Overall luxury car market in 2012 grew by over 15-17 percent to around 28,500 units to 29,000 units. Indian luxury car Audi car market in India increased in last couple of years.