Lunar New Year

As the Chinese celebrate the start of the new lunar year, Audi will be looking to build on the company’s longstanding association with the country and the extraordinary growth it has enjoyed since first starting operations in the ‘Middle Kingdom’.

The company’s largest international market, the partnership between Audi and China dates back to 1988 when AUDI AG and First Automobile Works (FAW) signed a licensing contract to produce the Audi 100 in Changchun. Since then it has seen unprecedented growth for the luxury carmaker as China has embraced the Audi brand, developing model variants specifically for the Chinese market as well as expanding its manufacturing base to meet the ever-increasing demand.

So significant is the Chinese market and production volume that Audi’s Chairman of the Board of Management, Rupert Stadler often describes China as the ‘second homeland’ of Audi, and with sales in excess of 570,000 cars last year, the brand with the four rings is on target to expand its total annual production capacity in China to 700,000 cars by 2017.

China is a key component in the company’s global growth strategy, its combination of a joint venture in China and a 100 percent-owned subsidiary forming the basis of the brand’s activities in the People’s Republic, where it builds models specifically for the Chinese market as well for export within the region. 

At its plant in Changchun, Audi produces the Audi A4 L and A6 L – both developed with an extended wheelbase for the Chinese market – as well as the Q3 and Q5 SUVs which are increasing in their popularity at a tremendous rate.

In 2014, new production facilities in Foshan in southern China were opened and began manufacturing the Audi A3 Sportback and Sedan, making Audi the first manufacturer to offer three locally produced models in the rapidly expanding premium compact class – Q3, A3 Sportback and Sedan.

The demand for the Audi product has been extraordinary in the People’s Republic of China, which has become the world’s largest single market for the A6 Sedan, Audi A8, Audi Q5, Q7 and Audi TT. Of the massive sales volume, a third of all Audi vehicles sold in China are SUVs, coupes and sports cars, the Q3 compact luxury SUV for example, seeing demand increase a staggering 103 percent in the 12 months since its launch in 2013.

Indeed by 2010, Audi and FAW celebrated the production of the one-millionth vehicle in China, a figure that was doubled just three years later in 2013. On its current trajectory, Audi will more than double that figure again by the end of next year. 

So significant is the Chinese market that a dedicated R&D department was established in Beijing in 2013 as well as an Audi City dealership – one of only three in the world. The national dealer network is also undergoing a tremendous expansion campaign to ensure top quality aftersales servicing to support the continued growth of the brand – the number of dealerships in China set to top 500 by the end of next year. 

The Chinese it seems cannot get enough of the Audi brand, embracing all aspects of the Audi lifestyle, from the inclusion of China as an integral part of the World Endurance Championship series, to a one make Audi R8 LMS customer racing series, which has become the premiere racing series for the entire region since being started in 2012.

But it is not just motorsport and Audi’s obvious association with the sport that has captured the imagination in China. Football too is enormously popular in the Middle Kingdom, with sides like the Audi-sponsored Bayern Munich boasting fan clubs in China to rival their those in their home country.

Indeed the The Bayern Munch football team were welcomed to China last year for the Audi summer tour as if they were local heroes.

Audi has become an integral part of modern day China, and in the Year of the Monkey will be looking to build on the long-standing partnership with the Middle Kingdom that has seen the brand  become the most successful in the premium segment in the world’s largest and fastest growing automotive market.