German luxury car maker Audi will launch its sports car 'R8' in India this November, with a price tag of Rs 1.17 crore, even as the company gears up to clock overall sales of around 1,000 cars in the country this year. The sports luxury car will be in addition to the company's line of luxury sedans, including the A4, A6, A8, TT Coupe, and SUV Q7.
"The (R8) cost will be over a crore...Rs 1.17 crore," Vice-President, Marketing, Audi (India) Martin Birkner said.
On being asked how many R8s Audi was planning to sell in India, he said the company has received orders for 15 units already, which would be delivered this year. Bullish on the fast growing luxury-car market in India, Audi has already posted a 200 per cent growth this year from that of last year.
"The whole segment is growing and we are growing even faster than the segment. We will sell about 1,000 cars in India this year," he said, adding that 350 units were sold last year.
Birkner said that Audi's A4, which it has started assembling in India, has a major contribution to the speedy growth and added, "we will try to get more production to India to meet the demand for this product."
The company had earlier said it planned to produce 11,000 units of A4 by 2015 in India. Keeping in mind the growth it is witnessing in India, Audi would also be expanding its dealer network and plans to add three more by next year, taking the total to 15.
Last year, the whole segment saw more than 5,000 cars and this calendar year, it will double, he added.
About the sales prospects of R8, he said the target segment is quite small given the price and added, "people are keen to buy this car ... Its a very niche product."
By 2015, Audi plans to manufacture over 18,000 cars at the Aurangabad facility of Volkswagen group firm Skoda.
