Audi's Future model plans

Johann

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By Luca Ciferri
Automotive News Europe / October 31, 2005

TURIN -- Audi's aggressive product expansion plans show it will do whatever is necessary to catch premium-class rivals BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

Audi plans to sell 1.5 million cars a year by 2015, supplier sources say.
The carmaker is outgrowing its old position as the sportier wing of parent Volkswagen group, supplier sources reveal.

Under the VW group's reorganization in 2002, the Audi brand group (Audi, Seat and Lamborghini) is supposed to be more expressive and performance-oriented than the Volkswagen brand group.

Audi is developing a unique architecture for core models and expanding its product lineup with extra body styles and new niche models. Both steps are part of an effort to compete more directly with BMW and Mercedes.

BMW group and Mercedes already have expanded their lineups and each sells more than 1 million cars a year. BMW group's aim is 1.4 million sales by 2008 and Mercedes Car Group (Mercedes, Smart and Maybach) wants to sell 1.8 million by 2010.

Audi sold 779,000 units worldwide last year.

But Audi's product push -- and press reports revealing that it may take more direct control of Seat -- show it is making a more concerted effort to catch its rivals.

BMW and Mercedes boosted sales by offering new models and more variants of existing cars.

Audi will grow by expanding the number of body styles it has per vehicle and offering more niche models.

For example, BMW and Mercedes each offer multiple SUV models.

Audi starts selling its first SUV next year and plans to add another SUV by 2008.

A key aspect of Audi's drive is the development of an exclusive architecture code-named B-C-D that will form the basis for replacement models of the A4, A6 and A8, the core of Audi's lineup.

But VW group product development has moved from related models sharing physical platforms toward models that share components and modules.

Other VW group brands could use the B-C-D architecture, but it is conceived as an almost specific platform for Audi. This shows the VW group's resolve to increase the differences between its two brand groups.

A new coupe

According to a supplier source, the first application of the B-C-D architecture will be on a new four-seat coupe to fit between the A4 and A6 that will debut in January 2007 at the Detroit auto show.

About a year later, Audi will introduce a cabriolet variant that will replace the A4 cabriolet. Audi will continue using a canvas roof for the new Cabriolet. Audi does not plan to switch to retractable hardtops, even on sportier cars such as the next TT roadster.

Two Audi product lines will continue to use the VW group's PQ35 architecture: the A3 and the TT.

The next TT coupe, due to appear in March 2006 at the Geneva auto show, will keep its 2+2 seating configuration. A two-seat TT roadster variant will follow. It debuts in September 2006 at the Paris auto show.

Audi is about to approve production of the Shooting Brake concept as a third derivative of the TT. It appeared as a concept car at this month's Tokyo auto show.

Expected on the market by 2007, Audi wants the Shooting Brake to extend the reach of the next TT range to two new customer groups.

A prime example of Audi enlarging its lineup is the next-generation A3.

Audi will add a four-door sedan, a coupe, and possibly a cabriolet to a lineup that also will include three- and five-door versions of the A3.

More model expansion

The carmaker's expansion in new segments started with the Q7 SUV unveiled in September at the IAA in Frankfurt.

The growth will continue with another SUV called the Q5, expected in 2008. The Q5 will be derived from the next-generation A4.

As top of the range, Audi will unveil at the end of 2006 the production version of its Le Mans concept car, which will be called the R8 or R9. Audi plans to make about 5,000 units a year of the R8 or R9.

Despite the introduction of the Q7 and Q5, Audi will not replace the SUV-like allroad quattro variants.

Instead, Audi is expected to introduce next year an allroad quattro version of the current A6 station wagon, which Audi markets as the Avant.

It could also add a smaller allroad quattro on the next-generation A4 station wagon. The next A4 sedan is planned for 2007. The car will be slightly bigger that the current A4.

Quattro all-wheel-drive variants are a significant source of revenue growth for Audi. The premium-priced technology increased to 27 percent of all Audi's sold last year, up from 15 percent in 1997.





and then also:

By Richard Feast
Automotive News Europe / October 31, 2005

As Volkswagen decision-makers concentrate on the urgent challenges of the moment, will they overlook another underlying problem that affects the group's performance?

Europe's largest automaker needed seven brands to sell 2.6 million vehicles in western Europe last year.

Meanwhile, the No. 2 European group, PSA/Peugeot-Citroen, sold 20 percent fewer vehicles, but did it with only two brands, Peugeot and Citroen.

Guess which one had higher capacity utilization and profitability.

Buyers are baffled by VW's brand strategy, and it shows in the marketplace. Certainly its competitors are confused. At some point, VW will have to adopt more sensible branding policies.

Audi's role as a luxury brand is pretty well defined, which accounts for its success.

Too many nameplates?

But VW has three nameplates competing for the center ground. It is an echo of General Motors at its worst in the US, where Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick once drove over each other rather than their rivals. Even a huge reorganization to differentiate the four brands flopped and now Oldsmobile is dead.

VW group took the same approach three years ago with VW, Seat and Skoda. Seat, which has a heritage devoid of performance cars, became the group's sporty brand because VW said so. But then Seat got stodgy sedans and minivans and no sports cars or coupes worthy of the name.

Skoda, one of the great entry-level brands, was given such a bourgeois makeover that it is now a competitor to the Volkswagen brand. Compare that approach with Renault's, which created a truly original entry-level brand with Dacia.

VW, the People's Car, was recast as the plutocrats' car. The Phaeton is the sales disaster everyone outside VW's product strategy committee predicted. And the Touareg platform should have provided Audi with a Q7 years ago instead of next year.

In Bentley, Lamborghini and Bugatti, VW group also has three ultra-posh brands that between them sell fewer than 10,000 vehicles a year worldwide. Think of the manpower, resources and money they require.

Sorting this out will take a long time, which is why VW must start now. It needs to hire an expert and give that person the authority to improve the product portfolios of the group's brands.

This may be the moment for VW group Chairman Bernd Pischetsrieder to contact an old colleague from his days at BMW.

Karl-Heinz Kalbfell must be disappointed by the development of his career at Alfa Romeo and Maserati. He has the experience and expertise VW needs to redefine its brand strategy.







I found the last one quite interesting: what PSA/Citroën manages with 2 brands and only selling 20% less than VAG with SEVEN brands! You can just see where the money gets wasted!

And also note there is NO mention still of an A2 replacement as mooted in Autocar a while ago... :-(
 
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