George Sanduleac, Audi's brand manager, believes separating Audi's and Volkswagen's showrooms will generate a sales increase for the premium brand of the VW group, therefore avoiding cannibalisation of the two.
"The policy of Volkswagen-Audi Group is to have exclusive networks for the brands within the group. Each brand must be viewed as an individual company. Audi is a premium brand, which must offer a different range of services compared with the other brands in the group," said George Sanduleac. Since their entry onto the market, the two brands have been jointly promoted, with the official importer (Porsche Romania) set to separate the retail activities of Audi and Volkswagen.
"Audi enforced this strategy internationally in 2002, and began adopting the policy on the Romanian market in 2006. The strategy of the VW-Audi group is to individualise each brand, both in terms of costs and in terms of profit," said Sanduleac.
This year, the Audi network expanded by three new dealers on the Romanian market, while another five are expected to relocate. According to the representatives of Porsche Romania, investments in an Audi showroom amount to over 3 million euros, excluding the price of the land, which covers between 7,000 and 10,000 square metres.
"The costs entailed by building a new dealership have increased almost 100% within the last two years, primarily due to a rise in land prices. The level of investments for a new dealership stood at around 1.5-2 million euros in 2005, however, at present they amount to 3.5-4 million euros," said Sanduleac.
Currently, there are just two dealerships that sell both VW and Audi models: Porsche Bucuresti Vest, and a dealership in Oradea. The two only have joint servicing centres, but not joint stores.
Audi launched its new A4 model (the range's medium-class model) at this year's edition of the Bucharest International Auto Show (SIAB).
"By the end of this year, we estimate to deliver around 80-100 units of the new A4, and expect to deliver over 1,000 units in 2008," said Sanduleac. The new Audi A4 will be available on the Romanian market from the end of November, starting at a basic price of 25,942 euros.
Most of the customers of the current generation of the A4 model have turned towards the sports model.
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