Audi launches A4 in India; to increase plant capacity

German car-maker Audi has taken less than five years to overtake Mercedes Benz and slip into the number two position in the Indian luxury car market. CNBC-TV18's Swati Khandelwal Jain finds out what it plans to become number-one.

This Audi motto, meaning Progress Through Technology, is the secret behind the German car-maker's success in India...and technology, for Audi, means new products.
Michael Perschke, head of Audi India says when the company entered India it had only two-three products, but now has nine-10 products in the portfolio. These new products -- the Q7, the A4 and the A8 -- have helped Audi clock 50% sales growth in April alone.
Perschke says "A lot of people thought April will be a dull month but we kept the momentum and post the Budget and we are actually launching the car six-eight weeks ahead of plan because we run out of A4s , we have been number one in that segment so- the A4 helped us."
Now, having pushed Mercedes Benz out of the Number-2 spot, Audi is gunning to dethrone BMW. And new launches will continue to be its weapon of choice. The S6 is expected by the year-end, and the compact A3 is slated to follow soon after.
Also, having used up over 70% of the 30 million euros it initially brought into the country, Audi India plans to bring in a large chunk of the 16 billion euros earmarked by Audi for global expansion over the next five years. The first order of business will be to increase capacity at its Aurangabad plant by 50% to 9,000 vehicles by the end of the year.
Even while Audi India has already attained number two position in just the first quarter of this calendar year, it is not resting on its laurels. It is aggressively expanding its dealership base in India from current 18 to reach 25 by end of 2012 and opening dealerships in Nagpur, Delhi and Coimbatore.