Audi aims to nearly double annual vehicle sales to more than 1.4 million units by 2015 by expanding its product range to around 40 models, German business magazine Capital reported, according to Reuters.
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“Sales will then be almost twice as much as now with more than 1.4 million vehicles,” Winterkorn told the magazine, citing a focus on the US, Chinese, Russian, Japanese, South Korean, Middle East and Australian markets.
The additional models are crucial to Audi maintaining current workforce levels in its plants at Neckarsulm and Ingolstadt in Germany as well as Gyor in Hungary, due to the planned 10% improvement in productivity, the report noted.
By 2008, Audi plans to roll out an A3 cabriolet, a smaller Q5 sport utility vehicle, a new A5 model line in coupe and roomier versions, the A7 coupe and R8 ‘supercar’, Reuters said.
Winterkorn also reversed an earlier statement that the brand would not develop a successor for the A2 compact.
“The wish of Audi customers for a product below the A3 for their wives or children is simply too great,” he reportedly said.
According to Reuters, he added that the new model would not be similar to its predecessor, whose innovative aluminium-based frame was deemed by analysts as too expensive to ensure success in the segment.
“We’re thinking about an extremely sporty small car including all-wheel drive, an absolute beauty,” Winterkorn told the magazine.
