Audi slashes prices to boost sales in China

Updated: 2004-10-11 14:16

AUDI was offering discounts of as much as 15 percent in China until the end of this year to boost its sales, the German company announced Friday.

Audi, the luxury arm of automobile giant Volkswagen AG, has slashed prices on all China-made cars by 20,000 yuan (US$2,400), a senior marking executive at Volkswagen's joint venture with Changchun-based First Automotive Works, one of China's leading homegrown carmakers.

However, he said it was not a price cut but rather "a sales promotion" which would last until the end of this year.

The price of some cars had dropped by 65,000 yuan when previous promotions were taken into account, he said.

Analysts said the move was aimed at competing with the Teana sedans produced by Nissan Motor Co.'s joint venture, which formally entered the Chinese market just before the National Day holidays.

In May, Audi said that it aimed to boost sales in China to 80,000 cars this year from 63,000 in 2003.

Analysts have forecast car sales this year to grow just 10-20 percent compared with 2003, when sales almost doubled to about 2 million.