The year 2018, overall, was a challenging one for carmakers in India and it seems that Audi, the luxury arm of the VW group, has suffered quite a bit. The annual sales have dwindled from over 7,800 units to 6,463 indicating a downfall of about 18 per cent.
The drop in sales has been largely due to the closure of one of their premier dealerships that operated in the Delhi-NCR-Gurgaon region, one of the largest markets for luxury cars in the Indian subcontinent. Also, the lack of new products, seems to be hurting Audi’s prospects in India, especially when the competition is launching a new product almost every other month.
In its current line-up, the fast-moving models like the Q3, the Q5 and the A6 have been overdue. The 2019 Q3 and Q5 have already been launched globally and should already be on their way to India to take on the compact luxury SUVs. The A5 which was supposed to take on the likes of the BMW GT will also need the new A6 to fight it out with the Mercedes-Benz E-Class – the most popular luxury sedan in the Indian premium market.
Audi has promised to introduce the 8 Series of cars in India including the all-new A8 limousine and the R8 sports car in 2019 and we hope they also bring in the Q8 Coupe SUV along to complete the triad.
