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| new cars audi 2012 |
German luxury make Audi is growing by leaps and bounds. In 2010, the brand sold more than 100,000 units in the profitable, but competitive U.S. market, its best year ever. Audi still trails its German rivals BMW and Mercedes, selling less than half of what they sell in the United States, but the brand is closing that gap.
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| new cars audi 2012 |
Audi has a lot to celebrate besides record sales. At the 2011 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, the 2012 Audi A6 sedan won "Best Production Vehicle," one of several awards certain to be bestowed on this stylish all-new sedan. The 2012 model goes on sale in spring 2011.
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| new cars audi 2012 |
Booming Demand
Demand for Audi products has been a boom for parent Volkswagen AG, but it presents a problem for the automaker. That problem is U.S. assembly capacity which currently stands at zero. Volkswagen last operated an assembly plant in Pennsylvania, closing it in the 1990s as demand and quality problems dogged the operation. In spring 2011, an all-new assembly plant will go online in Chattanooga, Tennessee, but it will only build the Volkswagen Passat, a midsize sedan. No American production capacity means that Audi must import 100 percent of its vehicles unlike BMW and Mercedes who operate plants in South Carolina and Alabama respectively.
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| new cars audi 2012 |
Until Audi brings production stateside, it will have to contend with currency vagaries between the euro and the dollar. Automakers who build in the United States have some advantages to those who don't, avoiding currency fluctuation for select models while also building goodwill with Americans who prefer to purchase domestic models.
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| new cars audi 2012 |
Delayed Announcement
Audi had been expected to announce a plant for the United States, but that decision may be several years away from happening, with several more years added on top of that as Audi shops for land, negotiates with competiting states for tax breaks, breaks ground, hires staff and starts assembly. Indeed, Audi CEO Rupert Stadler told the Automotive News in January 2011 that the decision would be made within four years which could mean that a plant would be up and running by 2020.
In the meantime, Audi continues to enjoy demand and is finding a way to make cars and price them competitively with the other luxury makes including Infiniti, Cadillac, Lexus, Volvo and Acura. Regardless of what decision is forthcoming from Audi, the delay isn't likely to thwart demand. European luxury car admirers know that there is a choice besides Mercedes and BMW, and that choice apparently is a worthy one for more than 100,000 new car buyers.
