“Audi has had its roots in the Northeast and the foul-weather regions and that is where we have seen great sales,” said Scott Keogh, the company’s chief marketing officer. “But we are going to where America is heading.”
This year, Audi has seen dramatic gains in its sales in larger southern cities. In Miami, sales have jumped 39%; in Dallas the figure is 23% and in Atlanta, 15%, Keogh said.
That direction also means a more flamboyant marketing angle, Keogh said, to complement Audi’s expanding line of models. Between 2005 and next year, Audi will have introduced 19 new products, including its first SUV, the Q7, and an all-new TT coupe.
Audi will be cast as a lifestyle achievement and aspiration rather than a triumph of German engineering, a move similar to what BMW has done in the last two years. Audi is just now beginning to be recognized as a true luxury marque and now represents to Volkswagen what Lexus does to Toyota—a monied step up in brands within the same family.
“Only in the last few years has Audi been accepted as a player that might be equal to BMW or Mercedes,” said John Bulcroft, an auto consultant and former Audi marketing chief in the ’70s. “And I think the market could absorb Audi sales of well over 100,000 units.”
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