Audi still top in premium sector
German marque sees off rivals as fight for market dominance goes down to the wire, Li Fusheng reports.
Audi has defended its position as the best-selling premium car brand in China last year, a title the German carmaker has kept for three decades.
China’s premium car segment, where about 2.4 million cars were sold last year, is like a Hollywoodstyle blockbuster starring three German giants — Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
Earlier in the year it looked as if Audi might lose its crown to one of its German rivals, but a strong close to the year meant that King Audi once again reigned supreme.
Mercedes-Benz gained a good start off the line in January 2017, with its sales surging by 39 percent, BMW followed in a close second, while Audi slipped to third place.
The two kept their advantage well into the year. Although Audi started to see acceleration in monthly sales starting June, it had lagged behind in the accumulative sales, bolstering observers’ confidence in a shakeup.
“It would be hard to say which brand will succeed this year until the very last minute,” said one analyst in November, who asked not to be identified.
None of them would relent their efforts in the closest ever race and Audi, with its 482 authorized dealerships in 203 cities, would not let go of the championship title it has enjoyed for three decades.
Its efforts paid off. With a stunning 68,948 cars sold in December, Audi’s China sales totaled 595,288 cars, edging up 1.1 percent year-on-year, according to FAW-Volkswagen’s Audi sales division.
As Audi is part of Volkswagen AG, the joint venture FAW-Volkswagen has been producing Audi models in China, where the majority of Audi cars sold were localized.
“Never before had so many Chinese customers taken delivery of an Audi in a single month,” said Audi AG in a statement exuding relief and joy.
With this new all-time high, it maintains its lead in the Chinese premium car market, narrowly overtaking Mercedes-Benz’s 587,868 units, not taking into account its Smart-branded cars, and BMW’s 594,388 units even including its Mini-branded hatchbacks. Despite the victory, Audi is