Audi is on a roll. It has passed Mercedes-Benz to become No. 2 in global premium car sales and predicts its earnings before interest and taxes will rise faster than revenue this year. If the new A1 entry-premium car is as successful as early orders indicate, BMW may be bumped from its place as the world's top-selling premium brand -- a goal that Audi plans to reach by 2015. CEO Rupert Stadler says Audi will soon be the world's No. 1 premium brand, but refuses to get caught up in the excitement of it happening ahead of schedule. He says Audi is reaching new heights because of its growing portfolio of successful products, its leadership in the world's largest market and its strengthening position in the U.S. market. Stadler spoke about Audi's recent success and revealed how he plans to keep the momentum moving forward during an interview earlier this month with Automotive News Europe Correspondent


"Our target is to become the leading premium brand in the world. It won’t happen in 2010. It won’t happen in 2011. But it will definitely happen."

 

only time will tell.

 

They better work on taking care of this carbon build up issue and start treating the customers a little better or they will go no where...

 

They were certainly on the right track, but I think the new A8 may have set them back a few years. That's the biggest design misstep Audi has taken in quite a while, IMO.

 

Completely disagree.

 

 

I've owned 4 Audi's over the years. However, no B8 S4 avant, TTRS, RS5, RS4 Avant, and C6 RS6 sedan or avant for North America means no Audi for me....they aren't producing high performance variants to compete with the likes of BMW M or Mercedes AMG. No turbo cars is also a disappointment. Sure they can sell all the pedastrian, bland cars they want, however not until they bring over some of the big hp that they sell in Europe will they get a single dollar of my money.

 

I'm pretty sure they're bringing the RS5 here.

 

Or bring ALL of their Diesel varients here to USA!!! There must be some gasoline conspiracy going on because this is starting to get silly.

 

As a C5 RS6 owner, I was very disappointed when Audi chose not to bring the C6 version. Why introduce the RS-brand to the US and then abandon it? That made NO sense. I realize the cost of the C6 RS6 would have been in the $150K range, which would mean it wasn't comparably priced, but if they wanted to commit, they should have brought it. There are at least a thousand folks who would have bought it. More troubling, though, was that the C5 RS6 had so many issues (DRC suspension, transmission, etc.) that has burdened Audi's warranty department that perhaps they chose not to bring it due to the headaches. The C5 is a high-end car that didn't get enough development time. Hopefully, Audi will re-consider their decisions in the longer run, but I can go buy an M5 or E63/65 off a lot at the moment. Friend of mine wanted an S8, and he couldn't even find one!

CW

 

Rupert is a straight talker. I like the article about the US and our "green" cars. Hell, why subsidize electric cars when VW and Audi have diesel that get better end results and they are available right now.

I also agree about the lack of performance models in the US. No C6 RS6, no C5 RS6 avant, no RS4 avant, no TTRS and hell we dont even get the new S4 avant.

Stupid moves all of them. I would buy a RS6 avant, RS4 avant (even with the carbon issue), TTRS or the new S4 avant. Hell I would buy two of them if given the chance.....one avant and the TTRS.