Forbes Predicts Audi to be World's Leading Premium Brand by 2015?

With their foothold in the growing Asian economy, I can see it happening.

But the real factor here will be the US market. If Audi can beat the others by 2015, then they will become #1 without problem.

And for people who say it won't happen, it's not like Audi is an upstart. Audi was introduced in 1910, after Daimler-Benz and before BMW. They deserve the success the others have had.

sorry to rain on your parade s4, but this isn't possible. audi won't lead the u.s. market until hell freezes over. not because they are a bad brand, but because there is too much competition, and the u.s. lux market is already oversaturated. lexus will continue to lead, followed by mercedes. only bmw is at risk of being surpassed by audi due to poor recent designs, and such a specific market niche. (sporty)

sexylexy, Lexus is #1 in the U.S., and they have a specific niche too: women and older buyers. And that isn't a knock on Lexus, it's just a fact and Lexus is great at selling to those clients. Their #1 selling vehicle is the RX, which is a soccermom car, and the Camry rebadged as an ES that is primarily aimed at the older crowd. As for the remaining U.S. sales rankings, Mercedes is third and BMW is second, and you're right, BMW targets "sport", but guess what? They're right on target, and they know their niche well too. If you want proof, take a look at what the Japanese cars are doing. Everyone is targeting BMW's cars, and their driving dynamics, with their new models. That includes every single Infiniti and Lexus with the IS and GS, both of which Lexus admitted were aimed directly at BMW. Everyone is touting their cars as drivers cars now, and they're all doing that because of BMW. And I'm not even going to argue the styling, since aside from being completely subjective the new ES and LS have a whole bunch of Bangle in them.

Rob, you're right of course about Lexus. They are selling to Moms and retirees mostly. But as for everyone copying BMW... that's not entirely true.

It's true that Infiniti, Lexus and Audi have some cars that are gunning for BMW, but they also have other cars that aren't. Those brands have pure luxury cars as well, while BMW is 1-dimensional in that every car is sport-oriented.

BMW has put all its eggs in one basket.

sexylexy Lexus only success story is the RX which accounts for nearly 50% of their total sales. Audi will dominate the market. Just sit back and watch the show!

Audi refuses to play in the US market and does not have the plan to become #1 in the USA. Audi has said it will not advertise in the USA until sales pick up. But sales won't pick up without advertising. They are being too conservative and will not break through here with MB, BMW and Lexus spending $300+ million per year marketing to affluent people. In countries where advertising and marketing are less of a factor, perhaps they can compete but USA requires marketing--don't get started on the anti-marketing bashing, please--it's just a fact and Audi refuses to play. They expect they're going to become #1 by hoping all the fish jump right into the boat.

Not as outrageous as Lexus saying they want to be #1 by 2020, when they're available in about seven countries.

The product speaks for itself, and if recent sales are any indication, word-of-mouth has been working quite well-- they've increased their sales by about 30% in the US this year alone.

good point will. america's consumers are more influenced by advertising than any other market in the world. you can't succeed here without advertising.

btw-- paNdora's box

the Lambo is built on the A8 body ( Lambo is just a rebaged Audi right? or the R8 is built on the Lambo fraim so i guess the Audi is a rebaged Lambo right ?

Logical- About once a month an idiot like you comes in the dealership with an attitude before he even comes in. I have a feeling if you came in no one would help you anyway. You are the idiot that walks in and says "is anyone here going to sell me a car?" Everytime someone says that every good salasperson runs the other way.

If the A8 was built by the hand of God and had a gold dildo you would still hate it. (you might like that feature though) :)

BTW the A8 is quattro not FWD
the A8 has be best fit and finish, quattro, ASF, MMI, Air suspention, B&O and a great design. If you are going to make fun of Audi don't talk about the A8 because you stand alone on this one.

Nice try 2015! And the other manufacturers are actually just going to sit by doing nothing and Watch dominate them.! That is a bit overambitious for a company that resells a Jetta as an A4.

keyserSoze- forbes is just looking at the current growth in the USA and internationaly. So far so good but no one can predict the future

That title is misleading. Forbes never predicts anything about Audi being the Premium luxury Automaker. It was Audi's chief executive making the statement. There isn't even a "prediction" being made by the chief executive or within the entire article. This is more like a goal, that just like any automaker tries to set. Forbes had nothing to do with predicting Audi as #1, they just put up the article.

Have any of you actually seen steve forbes? That guy is such a cornball

9 years is long time from now, most of these autospies post are about Audi getting respect.. one of audi's stategies i question, the audi A1 that is suppose to compete with mini. I think VW should focus on Mini, not Audi

I predict in 2015 Hyundai will have a GT car able to compete with Ferrari and will include a 10 year warranty.

Seriously, why is everyone so hung up on being number one? Pepsi might never overtake Coke as far as sales leader, but Pepsi will always taste better.

I don't think GM's status as being the number one selling automaker led them to build better vehicles.

I completely agree with answer about his predictions of a 2015 Hyundai GT!

you guys are funny man...

pepsi does taste better.
and coke zero tatstes like crap, i suddenly thought, "why am i buying this?".
so i bought a pepsi max.
screw you coca cola!

Yes, but where do you live now? Torrance? Hmmm?

Maybe by 3015...

Logical, you again make a dumb comment based on your opinion alone and not supported with factual information.

I have news for you: Audi is currently the world's fastest growing luxury premium automaker. It is growing faster than BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

This is before the introduction of the Q7 and R8 along with the upcoming A5 and Q5 models. Not to mention the upcoming A7 and redesigned Audi A8 which has already defeated the BMW 7-series in more comparison tests than the BMW 7-series has defeated the A8.


Audi is expanding very rapidly with their models and all you can do is call them FWD cars with roots of a VW. I want actual characteristics of the car.

I'm going to say BMWs are bad because they are an independent company. Notice, this has NOTHING to do with the actual cars. It's like saying you won't buy a Bugatti Beyron because it has corporate links to Volkswagen. That statement has absolutely nothing to do with the actual car itself.

You offer such useless comments that are NEVER supported with facts

Thanks for the insults, but nobody buys into your nonsense discussions and comments. That is why Audi sells OVER 800,000 vehicles every SINGLE year.

BMW sells over 1million and Audi just cut imports of the Q7 because it's not selling well. just over 4k sold since june intro.

Americans are going to have to come to terms with the fact that as China expands It won't be the US that is manufacturers number 1 target market.

Growth? great.. but can they maintain that growth once they have reached BMW's and Mercedes' current sales? Not only do they have to catch the other guys, they've got to overtake them too!

Cars like the Q7 and R8 are fine, it's good for Audi to have them - but they are never going to rescue Audi's overall sales figure's as the numbers sold are so low compared to the likes of the more affordable, high volume models (the A4 for instance)

And don't forget.. it's not like BMW and Merc are standing still - BMW still has 2 or 3 1-series variants in the pipeline. M versions of the 3 series, the M5 touring, possibly an M6 GTR/CSL, the X6, the "V5/V3" or "RFK", the "Z6" and/or the "Z10", rumours of a "X3"... not to mention more models in the Mini range, and yes even a Baby Rolls-Royce (Shocka!!!). They also have BMW Motorrad! BMW sell passenger vehicles and motor-bikes... Mercedes sell Passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles (buses/vans/lorries).. what else do Audi have?

I'm not having a go at Audi. But for them to lead the world by 2015 they have got to get EVERYTHING RIGHT, and they have got to rely on the competition to NOT raise their game even further.

Speaking of Audi being the #1 premium brand...

Check out this video from Auto Motor und Sport comparing the Audi TT to the BMW Z4 coupe and Alfa Brera.

The Audi has the fastest 0-60 and 1/4 mile times, best handling, best quality, and is the overall winner. And this from a super critical German magazine.

Kudos to Audi.

Here's the embedded video link:

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ayk_Sh_8dMY"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Ayk_Sh_8dMY" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

If that's not compatable with this forum, then just copy/paste this URL:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ayk_Sh_8dMY&eurl=

Just a poll, how many of you car fans have ever been to Europe?? And rebadged jetta's what a joke....how bout rebagged Toyotas.........LEXUS....Advertising is where VAG is lacking, but it's just a matter of time..

well i live there, does that count? ;)

Audi DOES need to up the American advertising. Currently US buys 9% of all Audis built.

Generally speaking Audis are INFERIOR to Lexus. Certainly as far as reliability is concerned. I would rank the main Luxury brands as:

1. Mercedes-Benz
2. BMW
3. Lexus
4. Audi

Last time I checked, Mercedes-Benz were complete junk, and have interiors that are a total embarrassment in whatever segment they compete. Even worse than BMW, as unimaginable as it is.

MB has lost significant market share over the past years in the US, and will continue to do so, as people see there's nothing more to these cheaply made atrocities than a prestigious badge.

Eh...BMW has the WORST interiors when compared to Audi and MB. What are you smoking Audiman?

Every premium luxury car brand is inferior to Lexus when it comes to reliability.

At the same time, Lexus is inferior to all the premium luxury car brands when it comes to having a sport (M, AMG, S/RS) tuning division.

Lexus does not offer a single car that can go from 0-60 in under 4.5 seconds.

They may be reliable, but they sure as hell don't make a competent sports car at this current point in time.

This is a stupid topic. I don't purchase cars based on it being the number one volume seller, if anything, that was what originally attracted me to Audi, atleast in the US.

The more cars they sell, the less exclusive my car becomes. This is why so many Lexus owners are switching to other brands--they finally see driving an expensive Toyota is nothing special.

if you don't care then don't comment. If you didn't care then why did you read the topic?

Audi is #1

Get used to it.

Forbes is wrong.

Who gives a rat's ass? Audi has been around since 1910 but in the '70's, '80's and most of the '90's they were an overpriced piece of crap.

Is Steve Forbes gay? Wasn't Malcolm Forbes gay? How did that happen?

what has that got to do with anything?

Exactly. There are more Honda Civics or Toyota Camrys sold each year than all lux cars put together.

wow, Id love to see more audis on the road, go audi!