Audi anticipates selling 120,000 A1s in 2011, compared with a previous projection of 100,000, and may boost the goal again, Peter Schwarzenbauer said by telephone. Audi plans to use about 20,000 of the 50,000 units built in 2010 to promote the model at dealerships and for demonstrations.
“After getting feedback from our dealers, it’s clear that our production rates may need to be increased again to satisfy demand,” the executive said. “We are extremely confident that the A1 will be a huge success for us and are running far ahead of plan in some markets,” including the U.K. and France.
Audi, which aims to topple Bayerische Motoren Werke AG as the luxury leader by 2015, is targeting record worldwide deliveries this year of more than 1.08 million cars and sport- utility vehicles, an increase of 14 percent from 2009. Eleven- month sales climbed 15 percent to 1 million vehicles, surpassing Audi’s previous full-year record set in 2008.
Source - Bloomberg