Outgoing Audi importer slashes prices
German Motor Works, the outgoing Audi official importer for Thailand, has announced dramatic price reductions across its product line-up.
The company announced that the new pricing structure is supported by Audi AG in Germany.
It said that Audi AG governs the retail pricing of Audi products in Thailand and has recently provided financial assistance in adjusting the whole pricing structure of these products.
“Audi AG has financially supported the retail price restructuring of Audi vehicles in Thailand, in order to more effectively penetrate the (luxury car) market,” said German Motor Works’ marketing manager Rosesanant Punithipandkul.
Unlike rivals BMW and Mercedes-Benz, which together sold almost 20,000 vehicles in Thailand last year, Audi does not assemble cars in Thailand and needs to import them in CBU (Completely Built Up) form, resulting in high import duties.
Last year the German luxury carmaker decided to pitch for a new official importer and distributor in Thailand in order to expand business, and appointed Meister Technik headed by financial tycoon Krisada Lamsam as the new Audi representative.
However, in order to prevent customers from being affected by the transition, both German Motor Works, owned by the Leenutaphong family, and Meister Technik will work together this year in servicing all Audi customers.
In terms of pricing, Meister Technik has just stepped in and announced a revised pricing scheme for fully imported Audi products, which are now priced competitively, even against locally assembled rival models from BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
“Usually Audi AG governs the retail pricing of every model sold here, and in order to better penetrate the market, certain Audi models imported by German Motor Works received pricing support from Audi AG, allowing us to sell them at the same prices as the other Audi importer (Meister Technik),” she said, noting that certain models may have different pricing due to varying specifications and equipment levels.
The price reductions are huge in certain models. For example, the Audi TT 2.0 quattro S-Line was previously priced at Bt3.99 million, but the new price has been set at Bt2.99 million.
Other models get smaller reductions, such as the Audi A6 2.0 TDI, previously priced at Bt3.599 million. It now sells for Bt3.399 million, but that’s enough to make it competitive against locally assembled BMW 5 Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class diesel models.
Rosesanant said all Audi models still come with a five-year/100,000km warranty from Audi AG and could be serviced at any official Audi service centre without requiring initial entry payments, unlike vehicles purchased from grey market importers (Bt10,000 to Bt50,000 initial fee depending on model).
According to a representative from Audi AG, German Motor Work has expressed its intention not to continue business with Audi, and will be involved with the Audi brand only until the end of this year.
