“2025 will be the year when Audi introduces the largest number of new models in its history to the Korean market.”
Audi Korea President Steve Clotty announced this at the ‘Audi New Year Media Roundtable’ held at the Shilla Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul on the 13th. The plan is to shake off the slump so far and aim for a rebound in sales, starting in 2025, when a large number of new cars are scheduled to be launched.
President Clotty said, “If 2024 was a year to establish a strategy for sustainable growth and strengthen internal stability, 2025 will be a year to establish a new (line-up) and meet customer expectations,” adding, “Global electrification strategy.” “We plan to introduce a total of 16 models of electric vehicles and internal combustion engine vehicles,” he emphasized.
Audi was once one of the top three German premium car brands along with BMW and Mercedes-Benz, and has maintained its place as one of the top three imported car brands. However, it has been struggling to escape the downward trend since it recently fell into a slump. Last year, domestic sales fell below 10,000 units, giving up third place to Tesla (29,750 units). According to the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association, Audi’s domestic sales last year were 9,304 units. This is half of the previous year’s sales volume (17,868 units). BMW and Mercedes-Benz, which ranked first and second in imported car sales last year, sold 73,754 and 66,400 units, respectively, domestically.
The industry cites the lack of new cars as the reason for Audi’s sluggish performance. While Mercedes-Benz and BMW introduced new flagship models, the mid-sized sedan E-Class and 5 Series, in the past year or two, it is pointed out that the lineup to compete with them was poor. 2019 was the last time that Audi released a completely revised model of its flagship model, the A6.
Accordingly, Audi is pinning its hopes on the A6 e-tron, a semi-large electric sedan that has transformed its flagship model, the A6, into an electric vehicle. In addition, new vehicles such as the semi-large electric sports utility vehicle (SUV) Q6 e-tron, mid-sized internal combustion engine sedan A5, and mid-sized internal combustion engine SUV Q5 are scheduled to be introduced one after another this year.
Last year, imported car companies had a difficult year overall. This is because consumption of luxury vehicles has decreased due to the continued high interest rate trend, and the remaining demand has been taken away by the advancement of domestic cars such as Hyundai Motor Group. It is also analyzed that the system requiring light green license plates to be attached to corporate vehicles priced at more than 80 million won has also had an impact.
Ho-Geun Lee, a professor of the Department of Future Automotive at Daedeok University, explained, “Not only did the overall demand decrease due to the economic downturn, but with the light green license plate system implemented, many customers of expensive imported cars worth more than 100 million won moved to Genesis.”
Reporter Jong-ho Han [email protected]
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