One Million Audis Sold In China
It’s a bit hard to sell millions of units with a luxury brand. But with the help of a country that has more than 1.3b people, and where an A6 (long!) is a sign of “here comes a party hotshot, get out of the way,” Audi can perform the rare fusion of volume and luxury.
20 years after Audi built its first car in China (in a joint venture with FAW in frigid Changchun), the company from Ingolstadt just sold its one millionth Audi in China. “No other German luxury maker has reached this level,” reports Automobilwoche [sub]. It’s a valid guess that no other luxury maker in the world came close either.
Audi already has its four rings aimed at next target: “Within the next three years, we want to make the second million,” said Dietmar Voggenreiter, Managing Director of Audi China. This year alone, Audi wants to sell more than 200,000 in China. Last year, Audi sold 950,000 units worldwide. There is another million that will be busted this year.
Jingdaily sees and even brighter Chinese future for Audi: “Analysts are projecting that, within the year, China will surpass Germany as Audi’s largest single market.”
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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In American class mobility, it traditionally took 2-3 generations to jump from laborer to white-collar to insufferable jerkoff, but in China, Audi is helping them do it within a single lifetime. I just hope VW Credit doesn't come knocking at the US Treasury when the payments are late. "Dude, they said you were good for it." "I'm not The Dude, I'm Tim Geithner, man."
How many Buicks have been sold in China?
Interesting. I'm surprised at the sheer number but I'm not shocked. Land Rover already sell more cars in China than they do the US and that's without any factories in China and consequently high import duties. And the US used to be LR's second bigest market.
China, right now, is experiencing a post WW II America. An insatiable appetite for anything new. Even Tucker would have been totally successful in China today. Come back 30 years from now and you'll see the Chinese market America's during the seventies. Ugh....