Audi to make decision on US production by 2015

FRANKFURT: Volkswagen's premium car unit Audi said Wednesday it would decide whether to produce cars in the United States by 2015 and would increase capacity at sites like Gyor in Hungary until then.

Unlike rivals BMW and Mercedes, Audi does not have its own factory in the United States, but Chief Executive Rupert Stadler recently said Audi may open its own factory there or use parent company Volkswagen's capacities.

Volkswagen wants to open a new factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, it had said at the Detroit auto show earlier this month.

The United States remains an important market for the premium German carmaker despite steep growth in China.

By producing in the United States, the cars companies absorb the currency fluctuations against which they would otherwise need to protect themselves through expensive hedging strategies.

Last year Audi made a total of 1.15 million cars, an increase of 23.4 percent when compared with the year-earlier period. Most of the cars continue to be produced in the southern German cities of Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm.