A3 Cabrio and RS6 Avant join Audi product explosion

Audi has a well known marketing slogan, ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’, but inside the company there is a new one that employees use, ‘Product Firework’.

In English ‘Firework’ isn’t the right word and ‘Product Explosion’ would be more accurate. Audi’s ‘Product Firework’ refers to their surge in introducing new models and derivatives as they move towards achieving their aim of becoming the top selling premium German brand.

The Audi brand has gone from 12 to 27 model ranges in 10 years and by 2012 they will have 40 model line-ups. Currently Audi is investing €2bn a year in developing new products.

Last year Audi sales broke records in more than 50 markets, including the UK, and their world-wide sales were 964,151 cars, an increase of 6.5 per cent.

In the UK in 2007 their sales increased by nearly 18 per cent to 100,864 cars, another record year, moving the brand ever closer to BMW and distancing it from Mercedes-Benz. So far in 2008 sales are again at record levels with 30,936 cars sold, just 2,390 units behind BMW.

The recently launched Audi A4 saloon range, the new A3 Cabriolet models and the RS 6 quattro Avant derivatives, which both arrive in the UK in May, keep the Product Firework process alight.

Further growth will come in the form of the A4 Avant estates, additional TTs and TTd Roadsters due soon, the RS 6 quattro Saloon in November, the Q5 compact SUV due at the end of this year or early in 2009, the R8 V10 in 2009, the R8 diesel and the small A1 car range all in 2010.

Jeremy Hicks, director of Audi in the UK said at the media introduction to the new A3 Cabriolet and RS 6 Avant models last week: “Our strategy for growth is to introduce new cars into new market segments.

"We are and never will be dependent on one particular model range to meet our sales growth target. We are increasingly manufacturing more and more different types of cars to meet customer’s bespoke orders and requirements. We are not a mass market manufacturer.”

He added, “Despite the current tough market conditions we have just completed a record first quarter for UK sales and this follows another record year in the UK in 2007.”

Audi A3 Cabriolet

Audi says the A3 range of three and five door, premium lower-medium segment hatchbacks is their single and most successful model range in the UK with sales of around 30,000 units a year.

This year Audi expect the new A3 Cabriolet models to add 4,500 UK sales to that total and 5,500 in a full year. The two-door A3 Cabriolet is initially available with the choice of two diesel and two petrol engine options and three equipment levels.

Audi anticipates that 70 per cent of A3 Cabriolet UK sales will go to retail customers, 30 per cent will be female buyers and 70 per cent of cars will have diesel engines with the new 2.0-litre TDI unit accounting for 50 per cent of total A3 Cabriolet sales.

The most popular petrol model will be the 1.8 TFSI version. Of the three trim and specification levels Sport will be the most popular with 60 per cent of the market and Standard and S Line will take 20 per cent each of sales. Prices start at £20,750 and rise to £27,060.

These prices are generally a little less expensive than the recently introduced BMW 1 Series Convertible whose current models range from £22,335 to £32,415.

The A3 Cabriolet is the third open top car in the Audi line-up which also has the A4 Cabriolet and TT Roadster models. Together these models will achieve around 17,000 soft-top sales a year for Audi in the UK, making it Audi’s leading Cabriolet market in the world.

The segment in which the new A3 soft-top sells also includes the new BMW 1 Series Convertible, Renault Meganne CC, Volkswagen EOS, Peugeot 307 CC, Astra Twin Top and Ford Focus CC. In 2003 Audi says this segment in the UK was worth an overall 7,000 sales a year. In 2007 this had increased to nearly 22,000 annual sales.

The RS6 quattro Avant

The RS 6 quattro Avant, priced from £77,730, is the most powerful production Audi of all time. Its 5.0-litre, V10, twin turbocharger 580PS, 650Nm petrol engine hurtles the all-wheel drive large estate to its ‘governed’ top speed of 155mph and 0-62mph in 4.6 seconds.

The RS 6 quattro Avant will start being delivered to customers on 24 May and as always with Audi supercars there is a waiting list. Around 600 RS 6 vehicles will be available this year and 80 per cent of that total will be Avant versions. The RS 6 quattro Saloon joins the line-up in November.

Customers ordering now are currently being quoted a year for delivery. The UK is already one of the best markets in the world for RS sales, led by the RS 4, and now the RS 6 flagship joins the line-up.

Audi UK said last week at the UK media launch that money and running costs are not issues for customers buying this type of supercar. They tend to have several cars so being wait-listed is not a problem for them.

The customers will tend to be retail buyers but they are senior executives in business, company owners, sports men and women. Audi UK said the Avant estate will be far more popular than the RS 6 Saloon because of its ‘grand tourer’ design.

With its 1,660-litres maximum luggage carrying space, it is more useable and practical than the Saloon.

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