Audi planning a version of the VW Up!

As Audi looks to grow its sales in the next few years, part of the plan is to launch an Audi version of the VW Up! City car.

The German premium car makers – Audi, BMW and Mercedes – are in a battle to see who can sell the most ‘Premium’ cars. And Audi has big plans to stay in the race.

As well as introducing more SUVs to their line-up – like the coupe SUV Q6 and Q8 – in the next few years, it looks like Audi are going to tap in to the City Car market with their own version of the VW Up! (pictured above).

That will mean a big investment by Audi as it heads towards the launch of the Q6, Q8 and Up! in the next two years, resulting in a drop in Audi’s profit margins from the current 11 per cent to around half that by 2015, but with margins quickly returning from 2016 on.

Audi are aiming to be selling 2.4 million cars a year by 2020 and to break the 2 million barrier as early as 2015 when the new models start to arrive.

Whether the new Audi Up! will be an ICE car or an EV remains to be seen, but unless EV sales really take off in the next few years Audi are unlikely to see the sales volume they seek unless the Audi Up! gets a normal ICE powerplant.

Source: Manager Magazin