I too cannot actually understand the thinking behind a LWB 5er or A6...but in the end, if the sales demand is there, then why not produce it. Here's what I mean:
A total of 19,161 vehicles were sold to customers in China and Hong Kong from January to March, an increase of 126 percent compared with the same period in 2005. The China-built Audi A4 achieved a growth rate of more than 220 percent with a total of 5,023 vehicles sold (1st quarter of 2005: 1,547), while the Audi A6 doubled its sales figures with 13,255 units in all (1st quarter of 2005: 6,207). http://www.audiworld.com/news/06/041906/content.shtml
The simple fact that in the first quarter of 2006 the Audi A6 is selling at 4 to 1 units compared to the A4 is something very significant! In Western markets, you'd expect the opposite, but for some reason, in the China/HK market, the opposite trend is occuring. Maybe they just want bigger cars, but dont want the biggest offerings from Audi.
Just as a point of comparison, as stated above, the A6 sold 6,207 units in the first quarter of this year, while the A8 only sold 883 units.
The only factor I can think of is that the A4 and A6 are built locally, while the A8 is actually imported into the market
Maybe here's an explaination for it:
BMW misjudged China's demand, said Credit Suisse analyst Jeannie Cheung in Hong Kong, who has a "neutral" rating on Brilliance China Automotive Holdings, BMW's partner in China.
"They don't really understand the Chinese consumer's mentality on the 3-Series," Cheung said. "In China, the 3-Series isn't that big of a car and if Chinese want a luxury car, they want it to be big." http://www.europeanchamber.com.cn/sh...ils.php?id=335 