LITTLE ROCK — Audi, the world’s second largest maker of luxury vehicles, plans to spend $17 billion through 2016 to develop new cars and expand production capacity as it pursues BMW’s luxury sales lead.
The Volkswagen AG unit budgeted more than $13.9 billion to develop vehicles and technologies, including lightweight auto design and electric power trains, as part of the investment program.
The spending includes funds for expanding production at its factory in Hungary, adding capacity in China and building a new plant in Mexico, the Ingolstadt, Germany-based automaker said last week in a statement.
“We will keep investing large sums to pursue our growth strategy,” Chief Financial Officer Axel Strotbek said in the statement. “The expansion of our global manufacturing infrastructure will help us to continue growing.”
Audi aims to sell at least 2 million cars a year and overtake BMW by the end of the decade. The brand’s expansion is part of Volkswagen’s goal to become the world’s largest automaker by 2018. The Wolfsburg, Germany-based manufacturer plans to spend $66.5 billion on its auto division, including Audi, through 2015.
BMW is expected to strengthen its dominance of the luxury-car industry this year. The Munich-based automaker will increase sales 4.6 percent to 1.54 million vehicles in 2013, beating Audi’s 1.1percent growth to 1.44 million autos, according to estimates from industry researcher IHS Automotive.
With the debt crisis depressing demand in Europe, Germany’s luxury-car makers have maintained growth by selling vehicles in the U.S. and China. BMW, Audi and Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz were all targeting record sales in 2012, while mass-market competitors in Europe braced for the lowest sales in the region in 17 years.
In November, the BMW brand increased deliveries 26 percent to 145,452 cars and sport-utility vehicles. That compares with growth of 11 percent to 123,600 deliveries at Audi and 5.7 percent to 120,346 vehicles at Mercedes.
Audi is seeking to boost sales this year by rolling out variants of the A3 compact, including a sedan version. BMW is countering with the introduction of the new 4-Series coupe and the i3, its first electric car.
Mercedes, which was passed in sales by Audi in 2011, has also set its sights on overtaking BMW. The Stuttgart, Germany-based automaker will revamp its flagship S-Class sedan and introduce the CLA compact four-door coupe. IHS forecasts Mercedes will retake the No. 2 spot in 2013, with sales of 1.46 million vehicles.
Business, Pages 19 on 01/01/2013