Fleet buyers will account for 80% of sales of Audi‘s new A5 Sportback, according to Henry Williams, the new car’s product manager.
“Most of the A5 Sportback’s customers will be company car buyers, coming from A4, BMW 3-series and Mercedes C-class,” said Williams. He predicted the majority of customers would come from within Audi itself. “50% of sales will come from A4 and A6, with 35% coming from A4,” he said.
Williams said this internal shifting of sales is not a problem for the brand, saying: “Customer loyalty is the big thing, they key thing that’ll make someone leave a brand is they want something different.”
The majority of the 4700 annual sales, said Williams, will be fitted with the A4’s most popular engine, the 143PS 2.0TDI when it arrives in the five-door A5 in April 2010. The A5 Sportback will launch with 170PS 2.0-litre and 3.0-litre diesels, and a 2.0-litre and 3.2-litre petrol engine, with the S5 arriving in March 2010, and a 1.8-litre petrol coming at the end of the year.
Williams also said the 120PS 2.0-litre TDI is likely to be dropped from the A4 range due to the arrival of the recent 2.0-litre A4e. The new A4e offers 136PS, but emissions of just 120g/km. According to Williams, the next challenge is to try to offer the A4e in S-line trim. The top trim level comes with 18-inch wheels as standard, which could compromise emissions.
