Audi And Jaguar Land Rover Show Robust Growth In 2017

It was a good start to the second half of 2017 for luxury car makers as the government implemented GST and prices of cars from Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar Land Rover, BMW were slashed, leading to consumers flocking to showrooms to buy their favourite cars. However, that growth was short lived and prices were more or less back to what they were after a revision in the GST rates. The growth for luxury car makers though was a significant one.

Audi announced its annual deliveries in the Indian market for 2017 at 7876 units. The company had a bunch of new cars that came into the market and it was because of these new and refreshed products that the company witnessed a growth of 2 per cent in 2017.

Rahil Ansari, Head, Audi India said, "Audi completed ten years in India in 2017 and we are delighted that within this short span, it has become one of the most preferred luxury car brands for enthusiasts in the country. With 7876 deliveries to customers in 2017, we have increased our sales by 2% while earning a profitable growth for our dealer partners."

2017 saw 10 launches from the brand with the four rings including the Audi A3 Sedan, Audi A3 Cabriolet, Audi Q3, Audi A4 TDI, Audi Q7 40 TFSI, Audi A5, Audi A5 Cabriolet and Audi S5 amongst others.

By comparison, the BMW India group sold a total of 9800 units in India in 2017, a whopping 25 per cent increase over 7861 units sold in 2016. BMW by itself has sold 9379 units in India in 2017 as compared to 7500 units in 2016 (growth of 25 per cent) while Mini has sold a modest 421 units for 2017 as compared to 361 sold in 2016 (growth of 17 per cent). BMW launched the new 5 Series in India this year while Mini launched the new Clubman. 

Jaguar Land Rover India too announced that it witnessed a growth of 49 percent in volume for the calendar year 2017. The company sold 3954 units  in 2017 and it was the XE, XF, F-PACE, Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque that proved to be the most popular with customers . Rohit Suri, President & Managing Director, Jaguar Land Rover India Ltd. (JLRIL) said, "We once again thank our customers for their continued patronage and enthusiasm for the two iconic brands, Jaguar and Land Rover. The increasing popularity of Jaguar Land Rover products is a great testimony to our focus on building a highly capable and customer friendly sales and service infrastructure to support these aspirational brands. We intend to sustain this fabulous momentum in 2018 with the launch of some exciting new products, the new Range Rover Velar being the first off the blocks in January 2018."