"Despite challenging market conditions in 2014, the Audi brand continues to develop well in South Africa."
That's the word from Paul Sansom, Head of Audi South Africa, who said "Audi's rapid emergence in the premium sector over recent years is set to continue to grow in 2015."
"We will continue to invest in world-class facilities and people, who provide the very best experience to our customers. The introduction of innovative products such as the new Audi TT and new Audi Q7 will showcase completely new technology to the market and will ensure some significant growth for the brand in the coming year," he said.
Sansom said in a statement Tuesday that "the total premium market increased from 85,075 units in 2013 to 86,567 units in 2014, despite the decline of the total vehicle market. The Audi brand achieved a full-year share of 21.2 percent of the premium market having delivered 18,375 units to the market. Audi also continues to lead the industry in respect of customer satisfaction for the third consecutive year as surveyed by IPSOS and was also awarded the number one premium brand status in Dealer satisfaction as per the Dealer satisfaction survey conducted by NADA in 2014."
"The introduction of key products, such as the new Audi A3 Sedan and A3 Cabriolet, has allowed Audi to grow its share of these segments with both models performing well in the market. The A3 range was voted as the 2014 World Car of the Year with the Audi A3 Sedan 1.4T S tronic being shortlisted as a finalist for the 2015 Wesbank/South African Guild of Motoring Journalists Car of the Year competition."
"The Audi A4 remains Audi's number one selling vehicle range, with 5,241 units delivered to customers in 2014. The Audi A4 range, consisting of the Sedan, Avant and all-road, continues to provide excellent customer value in the B-segment of the premium market."
Sansom said the introduction of innovative products such as the new Audi TT and new Audi Q7 will showcase completely new technology to the market and will ensure some significant growth for the brand in the coming year."
His optimism is also bolstered by strong global sales with Audi AG announcing that it had "exceeded its goal of 1.7 million deliveries" in 2014.
