Volkswagen AG’s Audi luxury-auto unit will increase its U.S. marketing spending by 15 percent to 20 percent this year in an effort to extend market-share gains, a member of its management board said.
“We are going to invest more in marketing than ever before,” Peter Schwarzenbauer said in an interview today in Detroit. “The crisis even helps us.”
Audi’s plan follows the automaker’s second straight annual gain in U.S. share to 0.7 percent in 2008, according to Autodata Corp. Audi, based in Ingolstadt, Germany, boosted its percentage of the market as its sales declined 6.1 percent, while the industrywide total tumbled 18 percent.
“We believe strongly we can grow our market share further,” Schwarzenbauer said. Audi plans to increase its number of models to 40 in 2015 from 26 now.
Audi forecasts U.S. industry sales this year of 11 million to 12 million vehicles, declining from 13.2 million in 2008.
“The U.S. market will be the first to recover,” Schwarzenbauer said. “ In the second half of 2009, we will see the first positive lights at the end of the tunnel.”
Audi has no interest in buying General Motors Corp.’s Saab division or Ford Motor Co.’s Volvo, he said. Saab and Volvo, both Sweden-based makers of luxury autos, are being reviewed for possible sale by their U.S. parents.
The German automaker is in the process of getting its U.S. dealers who also sell other brands to make their Audi outlets stand-alone operations, Johan de Nysschen, president of Audi of America Inc., said in the interview. The automaker is investing $1 billion in that effort, he said.
Audi also is considering bringing a car to the U.S. that would be smaller than the A3, now its smallest model. The new car might compete against Bayerische Motoren Werke AG’s Mini.
“The time is right,” Schwarzenbauer said.
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