German carmaker Mercedes-Benz has surged ahead of rival Audi to grab the No 1 spot as India’s top-selling luxury carmaker.
After Mercedes recently announced that the year 2015 saw its highest sales ever in India at 13,502 units, up 32 percent year-on-year, Audi today announced that its total sales for the year stood at 11,192 units, up around 3 percent as against 2014.
The luxury segment in India saw a great deal of action last year and both the German luxury marquees were quite aggressive with their product launches. While Audi launched 10 new cars in 2015, the year saw Mercedes Benz launch 15 models as a part of its ’15-in-15’ strategy for the year.
The ’15-in-15’ strategy certainly gave a boost to the Mercedes-Benz India’s growth momentum as not only did the carmaker bag the top spot, the year-end sales were at its highest ever in the country. The German luxury carmaker is confident that its new launches will contribute towards expanding its presence in the Indian automotive segment in 2016 as well.
For Audi, the year 2015 marked the 8th successive year of growth for the company. “The year 2015 has seen another year of growth for us and we remained focused towards our aim to provide the best luxury car buying experience to our customers. With our perfect pricing and the class defining products packed with the most innovative features, we have been able to offer the best package to our customers. We are very confident that we will continue our growth path in 2016 and beyond,” Joe King, Head, Audi India said in a company statement.
Fresh from the launch of the all-new Q7 SUV in December 2015, Audi is also planning to launch the all-new A-4 sedan in mid-2016. The new Audi R8 will also be rolled out this year. Meanwhile, Mercedes has already announced plans to add 12 new products to its portfolio in 2016.
Globally too, Mercedes Benz raced ahead of Audi AG in 2015 sales. Mercedes sales rose 13.4 percent to 1,871,511 cars on the back of strong sales in China, while Audi achieved a new sales record with deliveries increasing by 3.6 percent to around 1,803,250 vehicles.