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| Distinctive and self-confident: The new Audi A3 is on the market since July. He shall maintain the leading position in the segment of premium compact cars. |
The premium compact segment is set in motion: Mercedes has focused its new A-Class, making it the BMW 1 Series and Audi A3 targeted. Audi has its leadership position harder than ever to defend.
The premium compact segment is set in motion: Mercedes has focused its new A-Class, making it the BMW 1 Series and Audi A3 targeted. Audi has its leadership position harder than ever to defend.
It is the success story of the Ingolstadt - with the Audi A3, in 1996, the segment of premium compact and has already sold out of the first model around 880,000 units. The second generation introduced in 2003, brought it to 1.8 million, thus increasing the proportion of the Audi A3 family total sales to more than 20 percent.
The brands success, were able to record the four rings in the last decade based, thus in large part to the high-quality compact cars. Within the framework of the Geneva Motor Show 2012 presented by Rupert Stadler, CEO of Audi AG, the latest-generation A3 and especially emphasized the inner qualities: "What we are proud is the unmatched craftsmanship. With a clear and sporty interior architecture we set standards in the premium compact segment. "
After Audi for many years almost undisturbed could sell cars in this segment, BMW introduced the 1 Series in 2004 with the first strong competitors. Other collaborators are found only sporadically and catching with their sales figures insignificant. The largest volume BMW has always shared with 193,000 sold 1ern and Audi A3 with 188,000 sold (data for 2011).
This may change soon, however, as another German premium heavyweight reports on claims in the compact segment: Mercedes hosted the new A-Class, making it the A3 and 1 Series targeted. But Audi is anything but unprepared for the next round. This is confirmed by initial prognosis that the A3 to 2014 say an increase in annual sales of 312,000 units ahead. The A-Class is however also grew from 75,000 (2012) to 178,000 (2014)
