Audi continues double-digit growth in May

AUDI AG achieved an all-time sales record for May with around 128,900 cars delivered and a 13.7 percent gain compared with the same month last year. The company sold around 600,200 cars worldwide in the first five months (+12.1 percent) and has now set itself a target of 1.4 million cars by the end of the year. Thanks above all to the highly successful new Audi A6, sales figures once again rose in all regions worldwide in May – most notably in China, up 44.2 percent. In North America, sales figures climbed by 10.3 percent; in Europe, the new Audi Q3 and A1 Sportback contributed to growth of 3.8 percent. “The current order intake proves that the first half of the year will exceed our expectations in all regions. We have therefore now set ourselves a new target of 1.4 million deliveries for the year as a whole,” said Peter Schwarzenbauer, Member of the Board of Management for Marketing and Sales at AUDI AG. “Our growth in Europe continues to clearly buck the market trend, with especially stable development in Germany and the United Kingdom. We plan to set new sales records in 2012 in both markets.” In Germany, demand for Audi models has risen much more strongly than the total market since the beginning of the year; in May it rose by 8.1 percent to 25,307 units. The success of the new Audi A6 played an important role: with 21,808 deliveries, more consumers chose this luxury class model line between January and May than any other premium model in this segment. The A6 is also the first choice in this class for German fleet customers. It therefore reinforces the positive development Audi experienced in its booming fleet business, which also resulted in a 9.8 percent increase in sales of the A4 Avant in May. Audi UK experienced a record start to the year, mainly due to the new A6 as well as the remarkably strong end of lifecycle of the current A3. Sales of the A3 climbed in the United Kingdom during the first five months of the year by 8.5 percent to 14,081 units: a few weeks prior to the market launch of its successor. Audi sold a total of 10,015 cars in the United Kingdom during the past month – which was 10.8 percent more than in May 2011. Audi also exceeded its deliveries of last year’s May in France, the company’s third-biggest sales market in Europe: The 5,501 cars handed over to customers in May represent an increase of 3.6 percent. As in other markets on the continent, the new A1 Sportback and Q3 attracted additional customers to Audi France dealerships. Throughout Europe as a whole, the Ingolstadt-based company has already delivered around 32,000 units of the Q3 since January. The SUV model is also playing an important role in the growth of Audi in Eastern Europe: With a 27.9 percent increase in sales between January and May to around 23,400 cars, the region has now taken on a dimension for Audi on a par with major European markets like Italy and France. Among the biggest markets in the Asia-Pacific region, South Korea achieved the strongest growth in May with an increase of 55.3 percent. Since January, total deliveries here amounted to 5,876 cars, an increase of 48.4 percent. Audi maintained the strong pace of growth of the previous months in China, with the 36,278 cars sold in May amounting to a 44.2 percent increase. Between January and May, 160,562 customers in China received their new Audi, a gain of 42.0 percent compared with the previous year. Locally produced models once again contributed substantially to Audi’s growth in the past month – led by the sustained success of the Audi Q5: its sales figures climbed in May by 80.3 percent, nearly doubling since January compared to the same period last year (up 90.3 percent to 37,438 units). Audi’s flagship A8 model enjoys similarly strong momentum: since the beginning of the year, the luxury sedan has experienced a 91.3 percent increase in sales in China, with 7,409 units sold. The brand’s worldwide initiative in the top segments is having a significant impact on sales figures in other markets of the Asia-Pacific region as well – such as Japan, where total sales of all Audi full-size models grew in the first five months by more than 100 percent, although the new A6 Avant did not arrive in dealerships until February. Since January, Audi Japan has increased deliveries of all model lines combined by 17.6 percent to 9,521 cars. In the United States, sales of cars with the four rings increased in May by a considerable ten percent to 11,503 deliveries. Gains mainly achieved by the new A6 Sedan and both the Q5 and Q7 SUV models more than offset the effects of two major model changes: the imminent US introduction of the new generation of the A5 as well as of the A4, Audi of America’s top-selling model. Since January, Audi has sold 52,494 cars in the United States, 14.5 percent more than in 2011.