After disengaging from a humiliating skirmish with its own dealers last year, Audi surged back hard in China in January – only to see a relentless Mercedes-Benz charge even further ahead.
More than 40 percent of Audi’s 149,100 January sales were in China, with the Middle Kingdom having out-Audied Germany by almost three-to-one.
This time last year, Audi was facing a demand from its dealers for US$4 million in compensation for lost sales after the brand announced it wanted a second joint-venture operation to create north and south Chinese operations, just like its parent company Volkswagen.
The dealers insisted Audi had committed to a one-JV policy until it hit a million sales a year in China – which Audi strongly denied – but the dealers choked Audi off with stop-sale threats.
But, kerfuffle over, they sold 60,875 cars and SUVs for Audi in January, and home market Germany retained its place as the brand’s second-strongest market with 23,019 sales. The third-strongest Audi market, the United States, lagged considerably behind at 14,511 sales.
While that turned around Audi’s disastrous early months in 2017, it’s still a long way behind Mercedes-Benz, which is making its own moves in China.
If Audi’s Chinese January was strong, Benz’s was stronger, with 68,475 cars and SUVs sold there, followed by 25,307 in the US and 21,907 in Germany.
It crunched Audi’s total January sales volume, charging ahead to an early lead in the 2018 sales race with 193,414.
BMW effectively gave both its key rivals a 2018 head start with only 148,400 sales globally in January.
The growth curves don’t bode well for BMW either. Audi sales climbed more then 20 percent in January (mostly on the back of its Chinese comeback story), while Benz grew 8.4 percent and BMW just 3.4 percent.
It’s other major Chinese news came in the form of negotiations for a stake in the BEV subsidiary of Beijing’s BAIC Motor. By taking a stake in the parent company of Arcfox, BAIC’s start-up BEV brand, Benz gives itself a strong starting point to meet China’s BEV quotas.
Arcfox plans an eight-car range designed by ex-Volkswagen Group design boss Walter de Silva and engineered in Barcelona by Germany’s independent EDAG.
The range is planned to include a city car, a sports car, a full-sized limousine and three SUVs.
