Local assembling of Audi Q3 SUV begins in India

Audi, the German luxury car manufacturer, has been pretty active in India for the past few months. The Volkswagen Group owned auto firm has now begun the local assembling of the Q3 Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) in India. According to reports, the Q3 is the fifth product that is going to be manufactured at the facility in Aurangabad, which belongs to Skoda Auto India. It is being said that the Q3 is going to be assembled in a hall that has an overall area of 20000 sq. feet. Reports suggest that Audi has elaborate plans for the Indian car market, which includes a long term growth strategy to bank upon the good start it has made here.

The group plant located in Aurangabad, Maharashtra, is responsible for manufacturing Audi models like A6, A6, Q5, Q7 and Q3. In a one shift operation, the annual capacity of the Aurangabad production facility is around 13000 units. Dr. Frank Dreves, one of the members of Audi's Board for Production Board, spoke about the same thing in a recent interview, elaborating on all these premises.

"The infrastructure in the plant, efficient working processes, qualified workforce and a well-developed logistics environment, along with the growth potential of the Indian market, were the factors that motivated us to expand the product portfolio at the Aurangabad plant," he said. Putting things into context in terms of the overall market condition, Audi has performed really well in the first eight months of 2013. Sales of the German car manufacturer were boosted by rise in the demand for SUVs in India. During the period January-August in 2013, Audi India clocked sales of 6426 units, which was higher than the corresponding time last year by 19 per cent.

Explaining further about the local production of the Q3, Joe King, the new Head of Audi India, said how the success of the SUV has triggered this move by the company. "Local production of the Audi Q3 means that Audi India is now building all our 'Q' range models locally. This will reduce waiting times for our customers and will enable us to offer a wider range of versions in the market. This move demonstrates our confidence in the success of our Q range, which has positioned itself as a leader not only in the product category, but has emerged as a lifestyle statement. We are confident that we will continue to retain our dominance in the luxury SUV segment in India," he was quoted as saying.

2013 has been a good year for manufacturers for luxury cars as a number of companies have registered good growth. One thing that has been noticeable about the trends this year is the stiff competition between luxury car makers from Germany, namely Mercedes-Benz, Audi and BMW. Mercedes-Benz took the first mover advantage when it launched the A-Class premium hatchback, which turned out to be a great success. Seeing the success of the A-Class premium hatchback, Audi and BMW also made decisions to introduce their own low cost vehicles. During the month of August, Audi launched a low cost version of the Q3 SUV, called the Q3 S. Following suit, arch rival BMW introduced the Q3 S in India in the first week of September. The success achieved by luxury car makers comes as a surprise considering the kind of slump the Indian car market is going through.