Latin America: Audi Growth in Key Markets

Crisis. What crisis? For Juergen Deforth, vice president of Audi Latin America, the recent global crisis has barely been a blip in the road for the German luxury carmaker’s performance in the region.

“We’re doing business in the premium segment in Latin America,” he says. “In [that] segment, not many people suffer [and] they don’t change their lifestyle.”

As a result, Audi estimates to see only a minor decline this year despite the crisis. And in Mexico, its top market in Latin America, it actually expects to see an increase.

While typical Audi customers in the United States are middle class and have suffered from the crisis, in Latin America they belong to the higher end of the consumer market.

In fact, political more than economic factors have hurt sales in certain markets, Deforth says. “What causes problems [is the] political situation,” he says.

In Venezuela, for example, Audi ...

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Keywords: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Panama, Venezuela