“We continue to see great potential for Audi in North America; we want to sell more than 200,000 cars in the United States alone by 2020”, said Peter Schwarzenbauer, Member of the Board of Management for Marketing and Sales at AUDI AG. “A new production plant in Mexico safeguards our long-term growth worldwide – and underscores the importance of the entire American region. We want to achieve significant double-digit growth there this year as well.” And Audi is moving in the right direction – over the first four months of the year, the brand sold more cars in all countries within the American region than in the same period last year, and increased sales there by a cumulative 15.4 percent, which corresponds to around 56,400 units.
The driver for growth in this region is the United States, where the brand continued on its road to success. “With 11,521 cars sold and a 15 percent increase, we achieved our 16th record month in a row in April”, said Schwarzenbauer. This has been driven by high demand for Audi luxury-class models. They made up more than 30 percent of the company’s sales in the United States in April. In the first four months, sales figures for AUDI AG climbed in the United States to a total of 40,991 cars, putting them 15.8 percent above those for the same period last year.
Audi also exceeded its delivery results from the prior-year month in Europe. Around 66,750 customers chose a model with the four-ring logo in April (+ 4.9 percent). The engines for growth here were important European markets such as Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Russia. In the company’s home market of Germany, the new Q3 and the A6 family in particular helped boost sales for Audi. For example, an additional 1,800 customers selected an A6 model. Overall, Audi registered 9.4 percent growth in April in Germany, to 24,301 units.
In France, the brand with the four rings developed against the market trend and experienced strong sales growth, with an increase of 13.7 percent on the prior-year month. The brand was also able to sell even more cars than in April 2011 in the United Kingdom (+ 5 percent) and Russia (+ 16.5 percent). Russia in particular continues to gain importance for Audi. Over the first four months, the company sold 10,461 cars in this market (+ 44.6 percent) – by the end of the year Audi wants to deliver 30,000 cars here for the first time.
Significant growth was once again achieved in the past month in China. The 34,221 cars delivered there (incl. Hong Kong) exceeded those for the prior-year month by 44 percent. From January to April, sales figures in China increased 41.4 percent over the previous year and amounted to 124,284 units. The locally produced models experienced especially strong sales. In the first four months of the year, more than 33,000 Chinese customers chose the long-wheelbase version of the A4 (+ 62 percent).
The Indian and South Korean markets also hold increasing importance for the Asia-Pacific region. In India, Audi sales increased in April by 49.9 percent; in South Korea the figures for deliveries rose by 61.7 percent.
Market overview
Note: Annual General Meeting of AUDI AG, May 10, 2012, Audi Forum Ingolstadt