AUDI drivers are queuing up for a seat in their seventh heaven.
Weeks before first deliveries of the new A7 Sportback get into the eager hands of drivers, Audi says it has a three months’ order bank after deliveries start on January 8 and it has sold almost a third of its planned allocation of 100,000 UK cars for 2011.
Those figures include 3,250 A7 models is knows it will sell over 12 months and it’s working to raise its build rate after the second highest total ever, despite the economic downturn in 2010.
Jeremy Hicks, Audi’s UK Director, said: “In fact, we should have achieved an all time record sales year in 2010 but given the uncertainty of the new car market we under-called our production requirements with Audi so we are around 10,000 units light and with customers waiting.”
These orders are rolled into the 2011 sales year and Hicks said it means they already have orders placed by customers for 30,000 new cars next year.
He added, that with customers returning to buying 4x4s: “We have six month delivery waiting lists for the Q5 and Q7 models which is really too long and we are scheduling more production to meet the increasing demand.”
The new A7 Sportback sits between the A6 executive saloon and the A8 luxury saloon, and Hicks added their newcomer offers the practicality an estate, the prestige and comfort of a saloon and the elegance of a four door coupe and with quattro all wheel drive for most versions.
With prices including 20% VAT starting at £43,755, Hicks said orders placed now will be fulfilled in quarter one of next year.
The A7 is the most technically advanced four-door model it has launched, bristling with the latest technology and refinements, including Google-linked mapping and internet, head-up display, park assist, high efficiency and low energy 3.0-litre diesel or petrol engines with sophisticated six or seven-speed gearboxes and a body which blends a high content of aluminium and weight saving flow-formed steel sections.