Autoblog: Scott Keogh announced as Audi of America President

Audi of America has announced that Scott Keogh will take over as the company's President effective immediately. Keogh has spent the last six years serving as Chief Marketing Officer at Audi of America, so he's certainly familiar with the ins and outs of the brand and its positioning in the U.S.

Keogh takes over the position left by former Audi U.S. PresidentJohan De Nysschen, who vacated his post to take the title of Senior Vice President of Nissan Motor Company in charge of the Infiniti division.

Considering that Audi has posted 17 consecutive months ofrecord sales, Keogh will be under some pressure to continue the brand's U.S. marketplace success. The U.S. unit posted 117,561 sales in 2011, but parent company Volkswagen AG has an oft stated goal of Audi selling 200,000 vehicles a year by 2018.

Perhaps the biggest challenge ahead for Keogh will be reaching that goal while Audi begins building vehicles in North America for the first time. The German luxe brand is charting a plan to build the Q5 SUV locally to mitigate the pricing disadvantage it has with U.S. dollar-Euro conversion rates. Having local production will pressure Audi to sell in greater volumes than it ever has before.