(April 9, 2013) In the jockeying for world luxury-brand supremacy in the auto business, Audi is unique because it measures success in this endeavor by more than relative sales volume and even profitability comparisons alone. The first and foremost objective for Audi is to create the world’s most premium mainstream-luxury car brand.

Rupert Stadler, chairman of the Board of Management, provided a glimpse of the company’s thinking in this regard in a recent interview with Automotive News Europe about the competition among Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz for worldwide leadership — and, in particular, how that affects the brand’s approach in the crucial U.S. market, where the two rivals still roughly double Audi sales volumes.

“Last year [Audi] grew by 18 percent to 139,000 sales and this year we want to go for 150,000” sales, he told the publication. “The Audi Way is very clearly described and it doesn’t matter if we end up with 200,000 units in 2020 or 2018 or 2019. It will happen.

“In terms of prestige, recognition, awareness and all the other key performance indicators,” Stadler added, “we are moving in the right direction. This is the reason why we can sell cars in the U.S. with lower incentives than our competitors.”

Stadler concluded: “If we wanted to buy market share, we could do it tomorrow. That’s easy, but that is not our strategy.”

He also told Automotive News Europe that AUDI AG has “a clear plan” for becoming No. 1 globally by the brand’s broad definition that includes offering the best quality and service and becoming superior in other so-called “soft factors.”

“First, ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ [Progress through Technology] means we have to spend heavily in innovation,” Stadler said. “Secondly, we have to get as close as possible to our customers. Third, we need to speed up our organization. Fourth, we are part of society and we care about our responsibilities when it comes to emissions.”