AUDI pips BMW to No. 1 slot in luxury car market

German luxury car manufacturer Audi has emerged as the largest premium car maker in India in 2012-13, overtaking bitter rivals BMW in a close photo finish.

Audi sold 9,350 cars during the fiscal followed by BMW at 8,416 units and Mercedes at 7,239 units.

BMW has officially not given out their sales figures for the financial year but the tally above was leaked by one of its senior executives in Germany. Its Indian subsidiary refused to offer any comments or verify the numbers.

The Inglostadt-based firm had overtaken Mercedes to become number 2 only last year and its pole position comes more than a year ahead of its own target.

"This is a landlside success," Michael Perschke, head, Audi India tweeted. "Not expected at all so clear."

The real turnaround came in the first three months this year when Audi's sales grew 15% over last year to 2,616 units while sales of BMW crashed by over 40% to just 1410 units.

BMW India president Philipp Von Sahr had said in the past that he was interested in the number 1 position but had vowed to not offer discounts at all.

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