It seems Audi has decided to build a vehicle assembly plant in North America and is also considering an additional engine and transmission plant.
Audi CEO Rupert Stadler is once again talking up production plans for the U.S.
“It is totally clear that we need new production capacity in the U.S.,” Stadler revealed to Automotive News. “The question only is when.”
According to Automotive News it seems that the carmaker is considering building an engine and transmission plant in North America to increase local content. That second plant could be shared with VW division.
For the German brand, which set a sales record in 2010 with 101,629 sales in the United States, the inventory seems to be an issue. Audi CEO Rupert Stadler said the company plans to increase U.S. sales by 10 to 20 percent this year and could surpass 150,000 units by 2015.
“Our dealers currently ask for more cars than we can deliver,” he stated. “Our delivery times are still too high.”
According to Stadler, under Audi’s “Strategy 2020” plan, the brand aims to nearly double its global sales by the end of the decade. In 2010, Audi recorded sales of 1.1 million new cars.
With many customers having to wait more than six months for delivery of their new cars we can conclude that, for the moment, Audi can’t build cars fast enough. Audi will certainly need increased capacity, if it wants to reach its ambitious targets of 1.5 million global vehicle sales by 2015 and 2 million by 2020.
Globally Audi’s lineup will increase from 38 models this year to 42 in 2015 and 50 by 2020.
Source: Motorauthority
