Audi A1 to be sold outside Europe
Wednesday, August 25th, 2010Automotive News is reporting today that Volkswagen AG will be selling the new, compact Audi A1 outside of Europe next year.
According to Audi sales chief Peter Schwarzenbauer, Audi is increasing production of the A1 to meet greater demand. The car, which was originally meant only for the European market, will be offered globally (except for China and the United States) in 2011. Schwarzenbauer added that this smallest of Audi’s models will be available in China sometime after 2011, but that it wouldn’t be available to U.S. consumers until the model’s second generation “at the earliest.”
The Audi A1, which is designed to compete with BMW AG’s 1-series and Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz A-class, will go on sale this Friday, August 27th, and – at least in Germany – the base price will be 15,800 euros.
Schwarzenbauer said that it was interest generated from the Audi A1′s website that spurred the plan to expand sales of the car. In an interview on Tuesday, he said, “We will expand our production capacities by 20 percent” for the A1. The original production plan was for only 100,000 A1s per year, all coming from the company’s factory in Brussels.
Audi, which could set a record sales goal of more than 1.08 million cars and SUVs this year, has set its sights on dethroning BMW as the world’s largest luxury carmaker by 2015, when it wants to reach annual sales of 1.5 million vehicles.
All of the German big three automakers, Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz, have seen increased sales this years, thanks to greater demand in China, the largest car market in the world, and a rebound in the United States.