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NEW DELHI: Luxury carmaker Audi plans to drive in five new models in the next five months in a bid to hold on to its leadership position even as rival Mercedes-Benz has significantly reduced its lead last fiscal.

Audi India head Joe King said that the five new models will be besides the third generation of its sports car TT launched on Thursday.

"We see a huge potential to grow in the Indian market," King told ET. "The GDP is likely to improve as the fundamentals of the Indian economy are strong and softening interest rate will propel demand for the luxury cars." He said Audi targets double digit growth this fiscal, "aided by new models coming in different body shapes originating from several new segments".

The Volkswagen owned Audi is facing stiff challenge from Mercedes that outsold the market leader in the last quarter of last fiscal, selling 3,566 vehicles, 385 more than Audi. For the whole 2014-15, Audi sold 11,292 cars and SUVs, less than 1% higher than Mercedes-Benz's 11,213 units sold in the same period.

The race for the pole position is getting hotter as Mercedes would also launch 10 cars in 2015 to counter the Audi offensive.Audi's ambitious lineup includes the all new Q3 and Q7 SUVs while Mercedes Benz would bring its sporty AMG GT as part of its speciali.