By David Shepardson
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Volkswagen AG's (DE:VOWG_p) Audi of America luxury unit plans to unveil 12 updated and new vehicles in the United States over the next three years, the company said on Wednesday.
Audi of America President Scott Keogh told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the New York International Auto Show that the new vehicles represent 80 percent of current sales.
"We are in essence going to replace our entire portfolio," he said.
Audi's U.S. sales jumped 11.1 percent in 2015 to 202,202 vehicles, the first time the company topped 200,000 in the United States and ahead of its stated goal of hitting that figure by 2018. Keogh declined to state a new sales goal.
"We had a record last year with the oldest portfolio in the luxury business," he said.
Audi is unveiling its R8 Spyder V10 coupe high-performance sportscar at the show.
Keogh thinks the luxury segment of the U.S. auto market will continue to grow from the current 1.8 million vehicles a year to about 2 million in the next few years - 2 or 3 percent growth a year.
Audi sales are up 2.5 percent in the United States so far this year.
"The fundamental dynamics as I see it are still generally good" for luxury U.S. sales, he said, referring to credit access, the age of the vehicle fleet and low gasoline prices.