Car buffs love to debate which luxury brand is most prestigious in the cosmos of three-pointed stars, prancing horses and airplane propellers, the last being the symbol denoting current sales champion, BMW. There’s little argument, however, that Audi and its logo of four interlocking circles boast the most momentum and the biggest business bounce of recent years, a trend the German subsidiary of Volkswagen AG is determined to maintain through 2015. The automaker is tightening its finances ahead of introducing a spate of new models, fuel-saving configurations and a revised design language. Audi says it will cut $2.5 billion from costs in areas such as purchasing and manufacturing in order to protect profits while spending heavily to expand electric and hybrid drive models, as well as advanced assisted driving and communications technology. A big worry, said Rupert Stadler, CEO, is further tightening of global emissions standards, which potentially create vast new costs beyond the sums invested so far in technologies to minimize fossil fuel consumption. “It is far too early to know if the (consumer) market is going to respond” to new fuel-saving technologies, he said. Audi this year introduced the A3 in the U.S., its smallest and lightest vehicle, which helps it comply with average fleet efficiency required by the U.S. At a combined 33 miles per gallon, it’s slightly more fuel efficient than the larger A4 – but it can be ordered with a diesel engine that achieves 43 miles per gallon in city and highway driving. The VW subsidiary in 2011 passed Mercedes-Benz in global unit sales to grab the No. 2 spot among premium brands, behind BMW. This year Audi expects to sell 1.7 million vehicles globally for the first time. But Daimler’s Mercedes unit is pressing hard to regain its position and managed to edge Audi in September by a few thousand cars. Mercedes has concentrated on creating a younger, more dynamic and fluid look to appeal to younger buyers. The German automaker created a small sedan, CLA, that starts at a retail price less than $30,000 in the U.S., bringing it within reach of less affluent prospects. Responding to Daimler’s challenge, and with dreams of one day catching BMW, Audi is gearing up to launch new models and an updated design language, hints of which were shown this month at the Paris auto show to mostly positive reviews. Next year, Audi will introduce a new A4, Q7 and R8 supercar in the U.S. The performance of Audi, the biggest profit contributor among VW’s several brands, will be key to VW’s stated goal of passing Toyota as No. 1 in sales worldwide by 2018. But with the rising cost of technology and the resurgence of competition, VW now is making the point publicly that that it intends to maintain profitability. Helping in that effort will be U.S. dealer franchisees of Audi, who are in the midst of spending a collective $1 billion to renovate and spruce up their stores. Audi sales rose 86% in south Orlando since April, according to Automotive News, after Auto Nation spent $21 million on a new dealership. Up-and-coming premium auto franchises like Infiniti and Cadillac GM -2.38% have watched and taken notes from Audi. Studying and imitating aren’t the same as matching, which is what the wannabes have in mind. 車迷們很熱衷討論的一件事是，在三叉星（奔馳）、躍馬（法拉利）和飛機螺旋槳（寶馬）這三個豪華品牌中，誰纔是最聲名顯赫的。就目前而言，寶馬（BMW）穩坐豪華品牌銷量之王的寶座。 但少有爭議的一點是，奧迪（Audi）及其環環緊扣的四環標識是近年來增長勢頭最猛、銷售反彈力度最大的品牌。而其母公司大衆汽車公司（Volkswagen AG）則決意要在2015年繼續保持這股勢不可擋的勢頭。在推出一系列搭載省油配置及具備全新設計語言的新車型前，奧迪正在大力削減成本，嚴控財務狀況。 奧迪表示，在斥巨資開發全新電動及混動車型，以及先進的輔助駕駛和交通技術的同時，還將在採購和生產等領域削減25億美元的成本，以提高利潤率。 奧迪首席執行官魯伯特?施泰德稱，公司的一大擔憂是，隨着全球進一步提高排放標準，可能會讓迄今已投入巨資開發、旨在大幅降低油耗的技術成本更高。他說，對全新的省油技術，“現在就看出消費者是否會真正買賬實在爲時過早”。 今年奧迪在美國市場上投放了A3車型。由於它是奧迪家族最小最輕的車，這有助於它達到美國的平均燃油效率要求。它每加侖綜合行駛里程爲33英里，比體積稍大的A4要省油些——但如果訂購柴油引擎版，其城市路況和高速公路綜合行駛里程就能達到每加侖43英里。 2011年，奧迪的全球銷量一舉超過梅賽德斯奔馳（Mercedes-Benz），奪得第二的寶座，僅次於寶馬。今年奧迪的全球銷量則有望首次達到170萬輛。但奔馳也毫不示弱，目前正開足馬力要奪回自己原有的位置，且9月銷量比奧迪要多幾千輛。 奔馳一直致力於打造一種更年輕動感、更流暢的外形來吸引年輕車主。它爲美國市場打造了一款較小的車型CLA，零售價不到3萬美元，使很多不那麼富裕的潛在車主不再對奔馳可望而不可即。 作爲對奔馳挑戰的迴應，同時懷揣有朝一日趕超寶馬的夢想，奧迪正加速推出新車型及全新的設計語言，本月的巴黎車展上這種設計初露端倪即贏得廣泛好評。明年奧迪將在美國市場上推出全新的A4、Q7和R8超跑。 作爲大衆集團旗下最賺錢的品牌，奧迪的業績對大衆號稱要在2018年銷量力壓豐田汽車（Toyota）稱霸全球的目標至關重要。但是隨着技術開發的成本不斷上漲和競爭加劇，大衆現在又公開表示要努力保持盈利能力。 奧迪在美國的特許經銷商將爲大衆實現這一目標效力，它們已斥資10億美元重新裝修店面，使其煥然一新。據《汽車新聞》（Automotive News）稱，在全美汽車租賃公司（Auto Nation）投資2100萬美元和奧迪簽下新的合作協議後，今年4月以來奧迪在南奧蘭多的銷量已增長86%。 而像英菲尼迪（Infiniti）和凱迪拉克（Cadillac）這樣雄心勃勃的廠商則一直密切關注着奧迪的動向並潛心學習。當然，琢磨和模仿跟同臺競技可不是一回事，這是那些胸懷大志的人一向瞭然於心的。
