Audi plans to overtake BMW and Benz in Australia

There will be a new number one in Australian prestige motoring by 2020 if Audi can complete an ambitious plan to overhaul BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

Audi is currently only ranked third among the big three German brands but believes it has the momentum and the upcoming products to accelerate past its rivals.

It's about achieved a 14.7 per cent sales boost through the early months of 2015 and is confident it will be past BMW and into second by the end of 2016, at the latest.

Tackling Mercedes-Benz will be tougher, but Audi boss Andrew Doyle is confident that top spot is more than a wild dream.

"We are aiming to be number one. With our product lineup, we believe we're more competitve than ever before," Doyle tells CarsGuide.

"The trajectory would suggest that is something that would happen in the not-too-distant future. In the next five years or so. We would hope we would be number one in the marketplace within that timeframe.

"We're not in a massive rush. We're trying to do it in a sensible manner." Doyle reports a new sales high for Audi in Australia this year, as well as a jump from 18th to 13th on the global showroom rankings for the brand. China is cemented at number one in front of Germany and the UK, but Canada is just ahead and in the sights for the Australian team.

"The good news for us is that we have had significant growth in 2015. And we're aiming to increase that growth.

"We had an all-time record month in May, not just for May. We recorded over 1930 units. It's better than we've ever done before. The previous record was in January this year."

Audi has been steadily narrowing the margin to BMW in second place among the prestige brands and, without setting a firm date, Doyle predicts an early change in the rankings.

With our product lineup, we believe we're more competitive than ever before.

"We are now 97 per cent of their volume. That's interesting for us after coming from 30 per cent around 10 years ago.

"We do intend to become number two before we become number one, and we believe we can do that in the next couple of years. With our product lineup, we believe we're more competitive than ever before."

Audi has already launched the new TT sports car this year and has a renewal for its flagship Q7 SUV this year, before the arrival of the all-new A4 in the early months of 2016. Then comes the second-generation R8 supercar. "We have some good volume products coming up. We have the all-new Q7 and the new A4 coming next year."

Audi has also just confirmed an extension of its SUV family with the baby Q1, electric Q6 and luxury Q8, as it builds its range from 45 to around 60 models. It is spending more than $50 billion on products and technology by 2020 and also expanding its production capacity for a global drive towards number one.