Audi is on a roll with the global sales of 9.5 lakh cars last year, clocking 9.8 billion euro revenue, making it one of the most profitable car manufacturers in the global luxury automotive horizon. Audi, with five manufacturing locations, is active in well over 100 markets across the globe and takes on the players including Mercedes-Benz and BMW. What is more, the firm is aiming at superceding its German peers by 2016, says an Economic Times report quoting its India head Michael Perschke as saying.

The Audi group plans to invest 5.5 billion euro mainly in new products to maintain its lead in technology, enshrined in the slogan Vorsprung durch Technik. The philosophy has helped Audi sell 1,876 cars during January-August this year, surpassing total sales of 1,658 cars last year. “Having successfully surpassed last year’s annual sales, we are confident of taking our sales to new highs, leveraging on the growing demand for luxury cars from Indian consumers,” the report quotes Perschke as saying.

With developed economies yet to fully come out of the woods, premium carmakers are increasingly looking at emerging markets like India to shore up revenues and improve profitability and Audi is no exception, the report says. Audi has started assembling Q5, the compact crossover SUV, at its Aurangabad plant in Maharashtra and the capacity has been ramped up to make up to 1,500 SUVs per year for the Indian market. The A4 and A6 sedans are already being assembled in the country.

Audi does not have the first-mover advantage, says the report and adds: Audi was the last to enter Indian luxury car market in 2007, after Mercedes began its journey in 1995 and BMW in 2006. Together, these companies sell around 11,000 cars a year. But the German carmaker hopes to catch up, leveraging on the rising demand in the buoyant Indian economy, as demand for cars is fast outstripping supplies, forcing car manufacturers to add capacities in the world’s second-fastest growing market.

“We are aiming at increasing our market share as well as focusing on profitability. By next year, we are targeting about 30 percent share of the Indian market. We expect a huge growth from the metros as well as Tier-II cities. So, more showrooms are on the anvil in cities such as Surat, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Indore and Coimbatore,” Persche told Economic Times.

The report cites the firm as claiming that Audi had customised its cars for long-distance driving on Indian roads. It has also been expanding its service network and opened half a dozen new outlets this year. It is also establishing second facilities in bigger cities such as Delhi and Mumbai, the largest markets for such cars. Dealers, who are reaping profits, are being asked to reinvest into the business.

“This is fair enough as they have worked hard to build the brand and a credible base of customers. Sales can be created, but it may at times damage the brand. We are not in a rush and would cushion our partners (read: dealers) sentiments and maintain our brand lineage,” the report quotes Persche as saying.

The Audi India strategy encompasses substantial investment in branding, marketing, exclusive dealerships and after-sales service for the coming years. “We plan to increase the dealer network in India from 10 to 18 this fiscal year and launch the next generation of topend saloon models like the A8 by the end of this year that would have a host of features like a standard Google map not available in competing models,” adds the report quoting the Indian head as saying.

Audi is on a roll with the global sales of 9.5 lakh cars last year, clocking 9.8 billion euro revenue, making it one of the most profitable car manufacturers in the global luxury automotive horizon. Audi, with five manufacturing locations, is active in well over 100 markets across the globe and takes on the players including Mercedes-Benz and BMW. What is more, the firm is aiming at superceding its German peers by 2016, says an Economic Times report quoting its India head Michael Perschke as saying.

The Audi group plans to invest 5.5 billion euro mainly in new products to maintain its lead in technology, enshrined in the slogan Vorsprung durch Technik. The philosophy has helped Audi sell 1,876 cars during January-August this year, surpassing total sales of 1,658 cars last year. “Having successfully surpassed last year’s annual sales, we are confident of taking our sales to new highs, leveraging on the growing demand for luxury cars from Indian consumers,” the report quotes Perschke as saying.

With developed economies yet to fully come out of the woods, premium carmakers are increasingly looking at emerging markets like India to shore up revenues and improve profitability and Audi is no exception, the report says. Audi has started assembling Q5, the compact crossover SUV, at its Aurangabad plant in Maharashtra and the capacity has been ramped up to make up to 1,500 SUVs per year for the Indian market. The A4 and A6 sedans are already being assembled in the country.

Audi does not have the first-mover advantage, says the report and adds: Audi was the last to enter Indian luxury car market in 2007, after Mercedes began its journey in 1995 and BMW in 2006. Together, these companies sell around 11,000 cars a year. But the German carmaker hopes to catch up, leveraging on the rising demand in the buoyant Indian economy, as demand for cars is fast outstripping supplies, forcing car manufacturers to add capacities in the world’s second-fastest growing market.

“We are aiming at increasing our market share as well as focusing on profitability. By next year, we are targeting about 30 percent share of the Indian market. We expect a huge growth from the metros as well as Tier-II cities. So, more showrooms are on the anvil in cities such as Surat, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Indore and Coimbatore,” Persche told Economic Times.

The report cites the firm as claiming that Audi had customised its cars for long-distance driving on Indian roads. It has also been expanding its service network and opened half a dozen new outlets this year. It is also establishing second facilities in bigger cities such as Delhi and Mumbai, the largest markets for such cars. Dealers, who are reaping profits, are being asked to reinvest into the business.

“This is fair enough as they have worked hard to build the brand and a credible base of customers. Sales can be created, but it may at times damage the brand. We are not in a rush and would cushion our partners (read: dealers) sentiments and maintain our brand lineage,” the report quotes Persche as saying.

The Audi India strategy encompasses substantial investment in branding, marketing, exclusive dealerships and after-sales service for the coming years. “We plan to increase the dealer network in India from 10 to 18 this fiscal year and launch the next generation of topend saloon models like the A8 by the end of this year that would have a host of features like a standard Google map not available in competing models,” adds the report quoting the Indian head as saying.

Amidst the flurry of announcements of prices and gifts for the Indian cricket team following a tremendous win the ICC World Cup 2011, team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni now receives a brand new Ferrari 599 GTO India edition. The new Ferrari 599 GTO which will be gifted to the Indian cricket team captain will have an Indian tri-color flag featured at the bonnet.

Amidst the flurry of announcements of prices and gifts for the Indian cricket team following a tremendous win the ICC World Cup 2011, team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni now receives a brand new Ferrari 599 GTO India edition. The new Ferrari 599 GTO which will be gifted to the Indian cricket team captain will have an Indian tri-color flag featured at the bonnet.

The power packed Ferrari 599 GTO sports a V12 engine that is capable of generating a peak power of 620PS along with a massive torque of 620Nm. The superfast Ferrari 599 GTO holds a record for the fastest lap in Fiorano's test circuit. The supercar has a top speed of 335 kmph and takes just 3.35 seconds to break the speed barrier of 100 kmph.

The car has specially been built for the Indian cricket team captain. The new custom made car will have a left hand drive. The new custom made Ferrari 599 GTO will be about 100 kg lesser in weight as compared to the existing Ferrari 599.

Meanwhile, Audi India has already announced to gift a brand new Audi car to the man of the tournament – Yuvraj Singh, for his superb performance throughout the tournament.

The power packed Ferrari 599 GTO sports a V12 engine that is capable of generating a peak power of 620PS along with a massive torque of 620Nm. The superfast Ferrari 599 GTO holds a record for the fastest lap in Fiorano's test circuit. The supercar has a top speed of 335 kmph and takes just 3.35 seconds to break the speed barrier of 100 kmph.

The car has specially been built for the Indian cricket team captain. The new custom made car will have a left hand drive. The new custom made Ferrari 599 GTO will be about 100 kg lesser in weight as compared to the existing Ferrari 599.

Amidst the flurry of announcements of prices and gifts for the Indian cricket team following a tremendous win the ICC World Cup 2011, team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni now receives a brand new Ferrari 599 GTO India edition. The new Ferrari 599 GTO which will be gifted to the Indian cricket team captain will have an Indian tri-color flag featured at the bonnet.

Amidst the flurry of announcements of prices and gifts for the Indian cricket team following a tremendous win the ICC World Cup 2011, team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni now receives a brand new Ferrari 599 GTO India edition. The new Ferrari 599 GTO which will be gifted to the Indian cricket team captain will have an Indian tri-color flag featured at the bonnet.

The power packed Ferrari 599 GTO sports a V12 engine that is capable of generating a peak power of 620PS along with a massive torque of 620Nm. The superfast Ferrari 599 GTO holds a record for the fastest lap in Fiorano's test circuit. The supercar has a top speed of 335 kmph and takes just 3.35 seconds to break the speed barrier of 100 kmph.

The car has specially been built for the Indian cricket team captain. The new custom made car will have a left hand drive. The new custom made Ferrari 599 GTO will be about 100 kg lesser in weight as compared to the existing Ferrari 599.

Meanwhile, Audi India has already announced to gift a brand new Audi car to the man of the tournament – Yuvraj Singh, for his superb performance throughout the tournament.

The power packed Ferrari 599 GTO sports a V12 engine that is capable of generating a peak power of 620PS along with a massive torque of 620Nm. The superfast Ferrari 599 GTO holds a record for the fastest lap in Fiorano's test circuit. The supercar has a top speed of 335 kmph and takes just 3.35 seconds to break the speed barrier of 100 kmph.

The car has specially been built for the Indian cricket team captain. The new custom made car will have a left hand drive. The new custom made Ferrari 599 GTO will be about 100 kg lesser in weight as compared to the existing Ferrari 599.

The front is dominated by the 480 x 800 super LCD display, with the now-familiar four HTC touch buttons beneath it for home, menu, back and search. And in a very neat touch, these buttons actually rotate with the screen.

There is also a front facing 1.3MP camera for video calling and self-portraits . The back houses an 8.0-megapixel camera with dual LED flash and speaker. The innards of the Incredible S are impressive too—a 1 GHz processor, 768 MB RAM, surround sound, support for micro-SD cards, and every connectivity option that springs to mind, including Wi-Fi, GPS, 3G and even the option to stream pictures and videos to a television using DLNA (provided your television supports it, of course).

And running on top of all this is Android 2.2, over which, in turn runs HTC's Sense interface, which makes most tasks a snap and is by far the best looking and most functional 'skin' over Android. As a smartphone, the Incredible S excels, handling social networks, mail & web browsing with ease, even when all are running at the same time (the RAM helps!).

There is also a front facing 1.3MP camera for video calling and self-portraits . The back houses an 8.0-megapixel camera with dual LED flash and speaker. The innards of the Incredible S are impressive too—a 1 GHz processor, 768 MB RAM, surround sound, support for micro-SD cards, and every connectivity option that springs to mind, including Wi-Fi, GPS, 3G and even the option to stream pictures and videos to a television using DLNA (provided your television supports it, of course).

And running on top of all this is Android 2.2, over which, in turn runs HTC's Sense interface, which makes most tasks a snap and is by far the best looking and most functional 'skin' over Android. As a smartphone, the Incredible S excels, handling social networks, mail & web browsing with ease, even when all are running at the same time (the RAM helps!).

The big screen comes into its own when you are viewing video or browsing the Web. And unlike some of its competitors, it actually has an onscreen keyboard that is easy to use. In terms of pure phone functionality , call quality was excellent. Music through the headsets was very good indeed.

Best of all, this has got to be one of the smoothest operators we have seen in a while in terms of pure performance. It does, however, disappoint a bit in the camera department. While the 8.0-megapixel shooter performs adequately in sunlight, the quality of snaps and video dips discernibly when one shifts indoors. And then there is Android's albatross—the battery life.

The Incredible S does better in this department than the Desire HD and the HD7, but it still is nowhere near BlackBerry or Symbian territory.

In short, be ready to charge it once a day, especially if you are making the most of the Sense interface's ability to park everything from mail to social networks to news updates on your home screens—and it does make sense to do so.

The back panel of the phone is also a bit too thin for comfort as you can at times feel the battery heating up through it. All said and done, the Incredible S is a very good device indeed. There will be those who will crib about the absence of an AMOLED display, a dual core processor and the latest version (2.3) of Android.

We will content ourselves with being very satisfied with its performance. Yes, the 28,900 price tag does seem to be a bit on the higher side, when you consider that other devices with competitive configurations, including HTC's own Desire HD are available for less, but if you are looking for a big-screen Android that performs without looking too bulky, you could hardly do better.

The big screen comes into its own when you are viewing video or browsing the Web. And unlike some of its competitors, it actually has an onscreen keyboard that is easy to use. In terms of pure phone functionality , call quality was excellent. Music through the headsets was very good indeed.

Best of all, this has got to be one of the smoothest operators we have seen in a while in terms of pure performance. It does, however, disappoint a bit in the camera department. While the 8.0-megapixel shooter performs adequately in sunlight, the quality of snaps and video dips discernibly when one shifts indoors. And then there is Android's albatross—the battery life.

The Incredible S does better in this department than the Desire HD and the HD7, but it still is nowhere near BlackBerry or Symbian territory.

In short, be ready to charge it once a day, especially if you are making the most of the Sense interface's ability to park everything from mail to social networks to news updates on your home screens—and it does make sense to do so.

The back panel of the phone is also a bit too thin for comfort as you can at times feel the battery heating up through it. All said and done, the Incredible S is a very good device indeed. There will be those who will crib about the absence of an AMOLED display, a dual core processor and the latest version (2.3) of Android.

We will content ourselves with being very satisfied with its performance. Yes, the 28,900 price tag does seem to be a bit on the higher side, when you consider that other devices with competitive configurations, including HTC's own Desire HD are available for less, but if you are looking for a big-screen Android that performs without looking too bulky, you could hardly do better.

There is also a front facing 1.3MP camera for video calling and self-portraits . The back houses an 8.0-megapixel camera with dual LED flash and speaker. The innards of the Incredible S are impressive too—a 1 GHz processor, 768 MB RAM, surround sound, support for micro-SD cards, and every connectivity option that springs to mind, including Wi-Fi, GPS, 3G and even the option to stream pictures and videos to a television using DLNA (provided your television supports it, of course).

And running on top of all this is Android 2.2, over which, in turn runs HTC's Sense interface, which makes most tasks a snap and is by far the best looking and most functional 'skin' over Android. As a smartphone, the Incredible S excels, handling social networks, mail & web browsing with ease, even when all are running at the same time (the RAM helps!).

The big screen comes into its own when you are viewing video or browsing the Web. And unlike some of its competitors, it actually has an onscreen keyboard that is easy to use. In terms of pure phone functionality , call quality was excellent. Music through the headsets was very good indeed.

Best of all, this has got to be one of the smoothest operators we have seen in a while in terms of pure performance. It does, however, disappoint a bit in the camera department. While the 8.0-megapixel shooter performs adequately in sunlight, the quality of snaps and video dips discernibly when one shifts indoors. And then there is Android's albatross—the battery life.

The Incredible S does better in this department than the Desire HD and the HD7, but it still is nowhere near BlackBerry or Symbian territory.

In short, be ready to charge it once a day, especially if you are making the most of the Sense interface's ability to park everything from mail to social networks to news updates on your home screens—and it does make sense to do so.

The back panel of the phone is also a bit too thin for comfort as you can at times feel the battery heating up through it. All said and done, the Incredible S is a very good device indeed. There will be those who will crib about the absence of an AMOLED display, a dual core processor and the latest version (2.3) of Android.

We will content ourselves with being very satisfied with its performance. Yes, the 28,900 price tag does seem to be a bit on the higher side, when you consider that other devices with competitive configurations, including HTC's own Desire HD are available for less, but if you are looking for a big-screen Android that performs without looking too bulky, you could hardly do better.

The front is dominated by the 480 x 800 super LCD display, with the now-familiar four HTC touch buttons beneath it for home, menu, back and search. And in a very neat touch, these buttons actually rotate with the screen.

There is also a front facing 1.3MP camera for video calling and self-portraits . The back houses an 8.0-megapixel camera with dual LED flash and speaker. The innards of the Incredible S are impressive too—a 1 GHz processor, 768 MB RAM, surround sound, support for micro-SD cards, and every connectivity option that springs to mind, including Wi-Fi, GPS, 3G and even the option to stream pictures and videos to a television using DLNA (provided your television supports it, of course).

And running on top of all this is Android 2.2, over which, in turn runs HTC's Sense interface, which makes most tasks a snap and is by far the best looking and most functional 'skin' over Android. As a smartphone, the Incredible S excels, handling social networks, mail & web browsing with ease, even when all are running at the same time (the RAM helps!).

There is also a front facing 1.3MP camera for video calling and self-portraits . The back houses an 8.0-megapixel camera with dual LED flash and speaker. The innards of the Incredible S are impressive too—a 1 GHz processor, 768 MB RAM, surround sound, support for micro-SD cards, and every connectivity option that springs to mind, including Wi-Fi, GPS, 3G and even the option to stream pictures and videos to a television using DLNA (provided your television supports it, of course).

And running on top of all this is Android 2.2, over which, in turn runs HTC's Sense interface, which makes most tasks a snap and is by far the best looking and most functional 'skin' over Android. As a smartphone, the Incredible S excels, handling social networks, mail & web browsing with ease, even when all are running at the same time (the RAM helps!).

The big screen comes into its own when you are viewing video or browsing the Web. And unlike some of its competitors, it actually has an onscreen keyboard that is easy to use. In terms of pure phone functionality , call quality was excellent. Music through the headsets was very good indeed.

Best of all, this has got to be one of the smoothest operators we have seen in a while in terms of pure performance. It does, however, disappoint a bit in the camera department. While the 8.0-megapixel shooter performs adequately in sunlight, the quality of snaps and video dips discernibly when one shifts indoors. And then there is Android's albatross—the battery life.

The Incredible S does better in this department than the Desire HD and the HD7, but it still is nowhere near BlackBerry or Symbian territory.

In short, be ready to charge it once a day, especially if you are making the most of the Sense interface's ability to park everything from mail to social networks to news updates on your home screens—and it does make sense to do so.

The back panel of the phone is also a bit too thin for comfort as you can at times feel the battery heating up through it. All said and done, the Incredible S is a very good device indeed. There will be those who will crib about the absence of an AMOLED display, a dual core processor and the latest version (2.3) of Android.

We will content ourselves with being very satisfied with its performance. Yes, the 28,900 price tag does seem to be a bit on the higher side, when you consider that other devices with competitive configurations, including HTC's own Desire HD are available for less, but if you are looking for a big-screen Android that performs without looking too bulky, you could hardly do better.

The big screen comes into its own when you are viewing video or browsing the Web. And unlike some of its competitors, it actually has an onscreen keyboard that is easy to use. In terms of pure phone functionality , call quality was excellent. Music through the headsets was very good indeed.

Best of all, this has got to be one of the smoothest operators we have seen in a while in terms of pure performance. It does, however, disappoint a bit in the camera department. While the 8.0-megapixel shooter performs adequately in sunlight, the quality of snaps and video dips discernibly when one shifts indoors. And then there is Android's albatross—the battery life.

The Incredible S does better in this department than the Desire HD and the HD7, but it still is nowhere near BlackBerry or Symbian territory.

In short, be ready to charge it once a day, especially if you are making the most of the Sense interface's ability to park everything from mail to social networks to news updates on your home screens—and it does make sense to do so.

The back panel of the phone is also a bit too thin for comfort as you can at times feel the battery heating up through it. All said and done, the Incredible S is a very good device indeed. There will be those who will crib about the absence of an AMOLED display, a dual core processor and the latest version (2.3) of Android.

We will content ourselves with being very satisfied with its performance. Yes, the 28,900 price tag does seem to be a bit on the higher side, when you consider that other devices with competitive configurations, including HTC's own Desire HD are available for less, but if you are looking for a big-screen Android that performs without looking too bulky, you could hardly do better.

There is also a front facing 1.3MP camera for video calling and self-portraits . The back houses an 8.0-megapixel camera with dual LED flash and speaker. The innards of the Incredible S are impressive too—a 1 GHz processor, 768 MB RAM, surround sound, support for micro-SD cards, and every connectivity option that springs to mind, including Wi-Fi, GPS, 3G and even the option to stream pictures and videos to a television using DLNA (provided your television supports it, of course).

And running on top of all this is Android 2.2, over which, in turn runs HTC's Sense interface, which makes most tasks a snap and is by far the best looking and most functional 'skin' over Android. As a smartphone, the Incredible S excels, handling social networks, mail & web browsing with ease, even when all are running at the same time (the RAM helps!).

The big screen comes into its own when you are viewing video or browsing the Web. And unlike some of its competitors, it actually has an onscreen keyboard that is easy to use. In terms of pure phone functionality , call quality was excellent. Music through the headsets was very good indeed.

Best of all, this has got to be one of the smoothest operators we have seen in a while in terms of pure performance. It does, however, disappoint a bit in the camera department. While the 8.0-megapixel shooter performs adequately in sunlight, the quality of snaps and video dips discernibly when one shifts indoors. And then there is Android's albatross—the battery life.

The Incredible S does better in this department than the Desire HD and the HD7, but it still is nowhere near BlackBerry or Symbian territory.

In short, be ready to charge it once a day, especially if you are making the most of the Sense interface's ability to park everything from mail to social networks to news updates on your home screens—and it does make sense to do so.

The back panel of the phone is also a bit too thin for comfort as you can at times feel the battery heating up through it. All said and done, the Incredible S is a very good device indeed. There will be those who will crib about the absence of an AMOLED display, a dual core processor and the latest version (2.3) of Android.

We will content ourselves with being very satisfied with its performance. Yes, the 28,900 price tag does seem to be a bit on the higher side, when you consider that other devices with competitive configurations, including HTC's own Desire HD are available for less, but if you are looking for a big-screen Android that performs without looking too bulky, you could hardly do better.