AUDI AG: Sales up by roughly 39 percent

Growth in all of Europe’s major markets • Sales grew by over a third in the U.S. and more than doubled in China • Sales chief Schwarzenbauer: “Expecting a strong first quarter” • High sales figures for the Audi Q5 and the A5 family

With some 77,800 cars delivered worldwide, AUDI AG achieved sales growth of around 39 percent in January (2009: 56,138). In the past month, 16,798 Chinese customers chose an Audi - more than twice as many as in January 2009 (2009: 7,816). Sales in the United States rose by 37.9 percent to 6,510 cars (2009: 4,722). Sales in Europe outside Germany grew by 23 percent, with 33,300 cars sold (2009: 27,020).

 

"Due to the current order registrations, we expect a strong first quarter in 2010," said Peter Schwarzenbauer, Member of the Board of Management for Marketing and Sales at AUDI AG. Contributing to the good sales situation is the new Audi A5 Sportback, which is now fully available for the first time, as well as the highly successful Audi Q5, which has outsold its competitors' models by a significant margin in Europe. "With this successful start we're on target to reach the record we set in 2008 of one million cars sold, which we want to achieve again in 2010."

 

In all major European markets, the sales figures for the brand with the four rings were above those for the same month in the previous year. In its German home market, the Ingolstadt-based company sold 11,657 premium cars, an increase of 9.3 percent (2009: 10,662). In Great Britain, Audi's sales grew in January by 42.9 percent to 9,004 units (2009: 6,302). The Audi Q5 made an especially large contribution to the 21 percent growth in Italy, where 4,755 cars were sold (2009: 3,929). In France, Audi sold 3,690 cars (up 0.2 percent; 2009: 3,683); in Spain there were 3,311 units sold (up 11.1 percent; 2009: 2,979). Sales figures also rose again in Eastern Europe, with 812 cars sold in Russia, the region's largest market, representing a 58.3 percent gain (2009: 513).

 

In the Asia-Pacific region, sales for the brand rose by 101 percent to around 20,850 cars (2009: 10,381). Along with growth of 114.9 percent in China (including Hong Kong), with 16,798 units sold, sales also grew in Japan by 33.6 percent, with 991 cars delivered to customers (2009: 742).

 

While Audi of America was able to increase its share of the premium car market in the United States to 8.9 percent with a 37.9 percent growth in sales (2009: 4.722 cars; market share of 7.2 percent), the 127.8 percent growth of sales in neighboring Canada exceeded even that of China: in January, 884 Canadian customers chose an Audi (2009: 388).