“We seamlessly built on the 2013 record figures in January and are taking this momentum into the new year,”said Luca de Meo, Member of the Board of Management for Sales at AUDI AG. “Our goal is to continue our growth in 2014 and develop more strongly than the worldwide overall car market.”
In January, the premium manufacturer’s compact-class models again enjoyed a very positive trend in demand: The A3 family grew by 67.2 percent worldwide to around 17,450 units at the start of the year, the Q3 by 72.6 percent to around 15,000 units. Meanwhile, also deliveries of Audi’s full-size models increased: a plus of more than 11 percent. The fastest-growing of these models was the Q7. Its sales climbed by 40.8 percent in the first month of the year.
At the start of this year, the Q7 strengthened Audi’s business in China, too: 75 percent more customers than in the same month of 2013 decided to buy this full-size SUV. Also the smallest SUV in the Audi portfolio once again proved very popular. Around 6,000 customers in China received the keys to their new Q3. Across all model lines, AUDI AG delivered a total of about 44,526 cars in China, an increase of 18.2 percent compared to January 2013.
In the United States, the Q3 will make its debut at the dealerships in the third quarter; the other Audi Q models have already long been firm favorites with U.S. customers: In January, the Q5 and Q7 accounted for 40 percent of Audi’s deliveries. Despite the extreme weather conditions gripping the United States in the first weeks of January, Audi slightly exceeded its record-breaking start to the previous year: Last month, the company sold a total of 10,101 cars in the United States (+0.4 percent). Audi’s growth in the Americas in January was also fostered by its performance in South America, where deliveries were up 11.3 percent. The highest-growth market here was Brazil, where sales more than doubled compared with the same month last year.
In Europe, too, Audi made a successful start to the year. Sales of around 53,750 cars represent a growth rate of 7.8 percent. The brand’s five biggest European sales markets all performed better this January than one year earlier: In Germany, Audi increased its sales by 19.3 percent, in the United Kingdom by 9.2 percent. Likewise, Audi’s deliveries rose in those markets that had been hardest hit by the crisis, such as France (+0.9 percent), Italy (+1.4 percent) and Spain (+19.2 percent). The main factor in Spain was the year-on-year sales comparison of the A3 Sportback, which is the top-selling Audi model in that market. Sales in January 2013 were characterized by the forthcoming model changeover. In all these markets, the entire A3 family of three-door version, Sportback and new Sedan strengthened the brand’s business. In particular in Turkey, the launch of the A3 Sedan in September has been driving growth: Audi reported there in January a 41.4 percent increase to 851 deliveries.
Note: The AUDI AG Annual Press Conference will take place on March 11 at 10:00 a.m. at the Audi Forum Ingolstadt.