Audi AG sets new half-year record

With year-on-year sales growth of 11.4 percent, Audi AG has achieved the best first half-year in company history. The brand with the four rings handed over around 869,350 cars to customers in the first six months.

In June alone, the Audi delivered around 155,450 cars worldwide, exceeding the figure in the same period last year by 10.8 percent. The premium brand grew particularly strongly in North America, increasing sales by 21.2 percent year-on-year.

“In the first half of this year, Audi have already delivered more cars than in the whole of 2005. The successful A3 family and the full-size segment in particular helped accelerate our global growth in the first six months,” says Luca de Meo, member of the board of management for sales at AUDI AG.

“We’re also optimistic for the upcoming months and will carry forward the momentum from the first half of the year. Sales of the new A3 family increased by 49.4 percent to around 144,750 units since January. Deliveries of the Audi Q3 (+37.0 percent), Q5 (+5.5 percent) and Q7 (+20.8 percent) SUV models also rose substantially over this period.

“Sales in the full-size segment with the A6, A7, Q7 and A8 models also performed equally positively, with combined sales increasing by 10.1 percent to 219,450 units. The brand’s top model, the Audi A8, grew in June alone by 23.7 percent to 4,023 units.

In the first half of the year, North America in particular proved to be an important growth region (+12.8 percent) for Audi. In June alone, the company delivered 20,158 cars to customers in the region a year-on-year increase of 21.2 percent. The U.S. market in particular provided a substantial boost in the region with 84,349 units delivered (+13.6 percent) in the first six months.

Thanks to successful models such as the Audi Q5 with sales in the United States increasing 15.2 percent in June to more than 4,000 vehicles, Audi of America posted its 42nd record-breaking month in a row.

Following the launch of Audi A3 Sedanin last April, the latest generation of the A8 was also launched in the U.S. market last month. Apart from US, Canada posting (+8.8 percent) and Mexico (+10.4%) also contributed to the growth in North America in the first half.

In the Americas, Brazil provided the fastest pace of growth. With sales of 6,229 cars (+141.4 percent), Audi already managed to match the figure in Brazil for the whole of 2013 after just six months.

In China, Audi delivered more than 50,000 units to customers for the first time in June. Deliveries of the compact SUV Q3, which is popular among Chinese customers, were up 61.3 percent to 7,149 units, making a substantial contribution to the new record-breaking figure.

Across all models, 268,666 customers have taken delivery of their new Audi in the Middle Kingdom since the start of the year, helping Audi already clearly exceed the 250,000 mark at the midyear stage.

In Europe, Audi sales also continued to increase in June up 6.4 percent to 69,250 cars. Since the start of 2014, Audi has thus managed to exceed previous year’s figure every month. With a total of around 410,050 deliveries between January and June, the brand managed to top its existing record-breaking figure from 2012 by just under 17,000 units.

It also managed to make additional progress in Italy, with deliveries up 4.6 percent the first six months to 25,979 cars. In Germany, Audi sales grew by 9.1 percent to 140,003 cars, while in the United Kingdom sales rose even faster by 12.6 percent to 83,357 units.

MIKE OCHONMA