Following BMW and Mercedes, Audi has started production of its mid-size sedan A6 at its Aurangabad facility in Maharashtra which means the model will become cheaper by Rs 1.4-2.1 lakh. Currently A6 is brought to India through CBU(Completely Build Unit) route which attract more than 110% import duties and tax which pushes the price of A6 to Rs 45lakh. But as Audi starts assembling A6 in india these duties and taxes will be around 60% of the price. From now on Audi can comepete with BMW and Mercedes through aggresive pricing. More than 300 A6 sedans will be assembled in a single-shift operation in 2008 in Aurangabad, Audi’s second production unit in Asia after Changchun in China.
Audi also confirmed that it will begin assembly of its 2008 A4 model(yet to be launched) by the end of 2008. “Starting our own production is the best way to adequately serve such a promising growth market,” Rupert Stadler, chairman of Audi’s board of management, said. Audi which has already invested 10 million euros in india will invest another 20 million euros by 2015 to get a bigger share in the India’s fast-growing luxury car market. Audi hopes to sell 3,000 cars by 2010 in india. Apart from A6 and A4, Audi sells the A8, Q7 and TT models in India.