Now, a mobile showroom from Audi

Mobile showroom would visit 30 cities over next one year targeting around 2,000 customers

A luxury sedan hoisted on a tractor trailer in what looks like a small but practical showroom-on-wheels is what German luxury car maker Audi is betting on to draw crowds from India's hinterlands.

The second largest luxury car maker in the country has rolled out a fully functional mobile showroom, which would visit 30 cities over the next one year targeting around 2,000 customers. The portable showroom will be showcased to customers over two days in each targeted city in association with Audi dealer partners.

Joe King, Head, Audi India said, "The Audi Mobile Terminal brings the showroom right to the customer's doorstep, especially in tier II and tier III cities in India, where the emergence of a progressive and discerning set of customers is significantly contributing to the transformation of the luxury landscape in India. This is where the next phase of growth will come from and we are now future-ready".

Besides displaying the cars and accessories, the mobile terminal concept serves as a hub for conducting test drives and enables customers and prospects to connect with Audi dealers for enquiries, new bookings and after sales support.

Audi is following in the footsteps of former head of luxury car sales in India BMW which launched a similar initiative three years ago. BMW's mobile showroom toured cities including Karnal, Agra, Bhopal, Jamshedpur Dehradun, Nashik, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada.

Such mobile retail showrooms or roadshows help in gauging the attraction for respective brands enabling car makers to decide if a particular market deserves a sales outlet or not. In addition servicing of vehicles also becomes a equally important deciding factor.

All luxury car makers are trying to make inroads into markets outside the metros for brand building and to tap current and future sales opportunities. According to Mercedes-Benz, the leader in the luxury vehicle category, more than half of its sales emerge from markets other than Mumbai and Delhi.

Presently Mercedes-Benz India is the leader in distribution having the widest spread amongst the luxury car makers. The company has 78 outlets across 39 cities including 3 standalone Mercedes-Benz Certified outlets, making it the brand with the densest network presence in the luxury segment, in India.

Dealer count of BMW India and Audi are on par with each other with around 40 sales outlets. BMW, which on the third spot, plans to have 50 outlets before the end of this year.