Everyone seems to be at war with Audi as companies fight to top the sales charts and close marketing gaps by making cars that cater to almost every need. As a result, word is that Infiniti aims to quadruple their market share in China’s luxury auto market to combat Audi within the next five years.

CEO Carlos Ghosn said at a press conference that he plans on expanding Infiniti’s share of the global luxury market at least 8% by 2016, starting with China’s luxury market.

“We entered the China market even later than Taiwan and South Korea, and that’s very ridiculous to anybody who has a bit of knowledge about the industry,” said Allen Lu, formerly of Ferrari S.p.A. and Infiniti China’s future managing director. “But, it’s like running a marathon — you can’t tell who will win after just 10 kilometers.”

Ghosn also set a very big goal for Infiniti, saying that he wants the luxury brand to produce and sell up to 500,000 units a year globally by March of 2017. With today’s statistics, that would put Infiniti’s market share at about 10% by then.

“The real challenge for Infiniti is to get on the consideration list for luxury-auto shoppers in China,” said Bill Russo, a senior adviser at consulting company Booz & Co. in Beijing, “it should be possible for Infiniti to carve out a piece of this expanding pie.”

- By: Chris Chin

Source: Automotive News