Audi, one of Germany’s largest luxury automakers, thinks that going even more upmarket is a path to further profitability. According to Autoexpress, this upmarket maneuver will be reserved for Audi’s biggest and priciest models, like the A8, Q7, and Q8. Audi said it saw more demand in its most upmarket segments, and the automaker believes this will come with “a significant increase in price.”
Audi Looks For A New Niche
“We are making a step upwards in terms of “premiumness”, increasing the prestige, desirability, and perception of the brand, and more interested in the quality of business than the quantity,” Audi UK boss Jose Miguel Aparicio says. Aparicio says the company’s new A6, Q6 e-tron, and Q5 were also a deciding factor in the brand’s plans to move further up the market:
“… in order to do it successfully we really need to create this brand attraction and desire. The essence for this is product innovation, but we also have to offer a premium customer experience to them; we are talking about making an evolution, moving upwards.”
There’s Room For More
Audi is aware that both Bentley and Porsche, also owned by the Volkswagen Group, are still at the top of the VW Group luxury pyramid. However, Aparicio does say there’s some room just beneath them. “Luxury is covered by Bentley and Porsche, and in the premium market there are many segments and many ways of bringing a proposition to a customer,” he says.
“It’s not a fundamental change, it’s an evolution and has to be followed by adjustments to the customer experience; it’s something we have to do with our retail partners.”
The shift to EVs has given Audi a new way to approach customers, too. “The rules are changing,” says the UK’s Audi boss. Audi wants to ensure it has a customer experience that justifies the extra money, and EVs could be a way down this particular path, even as the automaker mulls its electrified future.
TopSpeed’s Take
Audi has always sat in contention with BMW and Mercedes-Benz, offering everything from entry-level luxury sedans all the way up to six-figure supercars and luxury barges. Moving away from this rivalry by moving upmarket could provide an opening for the automaker, but the gap between it and brands like Porsche has sat empty for a long time, and it’s possible Audi could be looking to move to a segment without the volume it might need to sustain itself.
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