Audi wants to expand in emerging markets

Audi's net income doubled to € 2.59 billion ($3.61 billion) in 2010 as rising demand in China and the U.S. spurred vehicle sales to record levels, Audi assumed. Revenue rose 19 percent to €35.4 billion.

CEO Rupert Stadler said today he still sees "considerable potential" in India, Brazil and Russia, and will further expand local production plants as the current facilities don't suffice to underpin Audi's spreading out.

Audi will spend €11.6 billion worldwide outside China on new plants, products, and technologies in the next five years with more than 5 billion euros destined for its two German plants.

The Volkswagendivision has a goal of overtaking BMW as the biggest luxury automaker by 2015 and last year introduced a new A7 Sportback, an updated version of its A8 flagship sedan and the A1, the smallest model in its 36-vehicle portfolio.

The brand aims to enhance 2011 sales by more than 10 percent to over 1.2 million cars and SUVs with new models including the RS3 Sportback, a hybrid Q5 SUV and the Q3 compact SUV. Audi aims for a 2011 operating margin of 9.4 percent, the carmaker said.

"We want to grow in 2011 too," Stadler said in a statement. "The prospects for 2011 are good."

Audi expects China, the world's biggest auto market, to continue to increase "at a high pace" over the medium term and is currently enlarging its factory in Changchun where the VW unit already in 2009 took steps to raise capacity to 300,000 units, according to Stadler.

"We want to participate in that momentum again in 2011," the CEO said. Audi increased Chinese sales by 43 percent to 227,900 cars and SUVs last year, underpinning its leading position in the country's premium segment.