China - Audi's No.1 Market in 2012

Audi has quite high expectations from China and expects this growing market to exceed Germany in terms of new car sales and become its number one market in 2012. According to a report by Dow Jones citing an Audi executive, the German manufacturer is considering several steps to expand its operations in the country and, in order to achieve its goal, it will debut several new models in the next few years.

"Today we're at 118,000 car sales already. We're on track to significantly surpass our initial target in China this year (of 130,000 car sales)," Audi's executive board member responsible for sales and marketing, Peter Schwarzenbauer, told Dow Jones.

Audi hopes its sales will reach 250,000 units by 2012 or 2013 in China, which will turn the country into its biggest market, exceeding Germany who's currently bringing the highest number of sales.

Audi recently announced the opening, together with partner FAW, of a new assembly hall at the facility in Changchun. The new line will be used for the assembly of the A4 and the Q5, two of the models expected to support Audi's expansion in the Chinese market.

“This substantial increase in our production capacities will fuel our continued growth and boost China’s position as a strategically important market,” Rupert Stadler, Audi chairman of the board said in a release. “The expansion of our production capacities is a key mile marker along the route to this destination.”

By 2015, Audi hopes to have more than 200 stores in the country, compared to the 139 dealerships and 14 Audi terminals today.