Date:22/08/2008 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/08/22/stories/2008082251180200.htm

Back Sports car Audi R8 gets 15 bookings so far

Manu P. Toms

Mumbai, Aug. 21 Audi’s high-end sports car R8, which is to be launched in October, has already got 15 bookings across the country, said Mr Martin Birkner, Vice- President, Marketing, Audi India. Audi started booking for R8 two months ago. The high-performance vehicle with 4163 cc petrol engine will be retailed at Rs 1.3 crore in India.

“The potential customers for this car travel around the world and they know about this product. Although the traffic in big cities is a concern for its buyers many would take it for evening driving or weekend outings,” said a company source.

The company is currently assembling Audi A6 and Audi A4 in India at its Aurangabad facility. Audi A8, Q7 and sports car TT are imported as completely-built units. R8 is the sixth model from Audi to be retailed in India.

The company is also thinking about local assembling of its Rs 65-lakh SUV Q7.

The German luxury carmaker launched A4 in India in mid-July.

The company is expanding its dealership from the existing seven to 12 as it is readying itself with the locally assembled A4 and completely built units of R8 of which most of the body parts are made of aluminium.

Audi has set a target to sell at least 1,000 units by the year end.