AUDI AG: U.S. sales fuel global growth in May

• Around 152,000 deliveries worldwide – up 10.8 percent
• Sales chief Luca de Meo: “High demand for efficient ultra models”
• Sporty S1* celebrates market premiere in Europe

Ingolstadt – AUDI AG again clearly exceeded its sales total from the prior-year month: Worldwide, around 152,000 customers opted for an automobile with the four rings in the last month – 10.8 percent more than in May 2013. The A3* (+42.9%), the Q3* (+20.8%) and the full-size category with the A6* (+9.7%) contributed in particular to this sales success. Since the start of the year, the company has increased its global deliveries by 11.5 percent to around 713,900 premium cars.

“In May, the United States in particular enabled us to make further progress thanks to an increase of around one quarter. We are consistently implementing our strategic growth plan for the U.S. market and want to significantly improve our position there this year already,” says Luca de Meo, Member of the Board of Management for Sales at AUDI AG. “In Europe, the highly efficient ultra models are noticeably strengthening our business, including in the important A4* and A6* families.” 

Sales in Europe for the A4 grew by 6.1 percent to around 11,850 cars in May, and by 4.8 percent to around 8,250 for the A6. In Germany alone, around one third of orders for an Audi A6 are at present for the ultra model – the offer with the lowest fuel consumption in the model line. In September 2013, AUDI AG began gradually rolling out ultra models for the A3*, A4*, A5* and A6* in the market and extended its efficiency portfolio in May to 22 ultra models in total. By the end of the year, Audi will offer around 30 model variants with the ultra suffix, initially in Europe.

In addition to the A4 and A6, sales of the A1* in particular were strong in Germany in May: With the sporty S1 launched at the end of April, demand for the model family increased by 23.3 percent to 2,643 cars. AUDI AG recently increased sales across all models in its domestic market by 5.3 percent to 24,535 units; since January the sales figures have risen by 10.1 percent to 116,496 cars. Among the major European markets, Belgium (+25.1% to 3,157 cars) and the United Kingdom reported double-digit rates of growth for the four rings in May. Audi UK built on the brand’s success in the United Kingdom with growth of 13.0 percent to 13,511 cars; with an increase of 26.8 percent for the A4. In Europe overall, Audi exceeded the sales figures for May 2013 by 5.8 percent with around 69,300 vehicles, representing a cumulative increase of 7.0 percent.

The United States spearheaded the development of the ten largest sales markets for Audi in the last month with growth of 25.5 percent to 16,601 deliveries. In addition to the A3 Sedan*, which was successfully launched in April, the full-size models A6, A7* and Q7* in particular performed well in the market. Sales for the A6 alone climbed by 21.7 percent to 2,151 cars. The U.S. launch of the updated A8* in June is set to further strengthen the brand’s position in the local full-size segment. Aside from the United States, Audi also concluded a strong month in Canada (+17.6% to 2,282 cars), and above all in Brazil where 1,171 customers in May constitute the fifth month in a row with three-figure growth rates (+133.3%).

For the first time Audi exceeded the mark of 200,000 deliveries in China after only five months. With an increase of 14.3 percent to 48,174 vehicles sold in May, cumulative sales total 217,910 cars since January – a year-on-year increase of 18.6 percent. In the next few days, Audi will thus reach the delivery total for the whole of 2010 when the company sold 227,938 cars in the Middle Kingdom.