Audi Achieves New Sales Record

564,805 Audi models were sold worldwide, 3.6 percent more than in the year before. Slightly below the level of the previous year a total of 183,582 Audi models were handed over to their new owners in Germany (down 2.3 percent). The sales figures in Audi’s largest market have therefore developed more favourably than the overall trend. The car market in Germany shrank by around three percent in the first nine months of 2002 compared with the same period last year. At 7.4 percent, Audi achieved its highest market share in Germany for more than 20 years (previous year: 7.2 percent).

247,931 Audi cars were sold in Europe (excluding Germany), an increase of 7.4 percent. The biggest European export market for Audi is Great Britain where 53,765 vehicles were sold (up 23.6 percent), followed by Italy, Spain and France. The company’s market share in Western Europe rose from 3.5 to 3.8 percent – the highest figure that Audi has ever achieved.

In the USA, the biggest foreign market for AUDI AG, the previous year’s record volume was matched with sales totalling 63,658 vehicles. In the region of North America (USA, Canada, Mexico) it is expected that, for the first time, more than 100,000 vehicles will have been sold by the end of the year. Audi also remains in the fast lane in Japan where 8,395 cars were sold between January and September, around 50 percent more than in the same period last year.

Sales of vehicles in other markets increased in the first nine months to 61,239 (up 6.7 percent). Once again China contributed the most to this figure, with sales of 27,890 vehicles (up 14.1 percent). Audi has thus been able to continue its success story in the Middle Kingdom where it is the market leader in the premium segment.

Car sales by the subsidiary Lamborghini rose by 30.5 percent to 287 units (220 in the previous year).

548,485 cars (down 0.7 percent) and 972,466 engines (up 4.8 percent) in total were produced in the first nine months of the year.

A total of 51,477 people were employed by the Audi Group as at 30th September 2002, 195 (up 0.4 percent) more than at the same time last year. AUDI AG had 44,626 employees on its books, thus keeping employment at the same high level of the previous year (44,539, up 0.2 percent).

“Despite weak car markets, we at Audi assume that we will be able to match the previous year’s record sales figures for the whole of 2002 and consequently further consolidate our market position,” says Winterkorn. The new FSI engines for the Audi A2 and Audi A4 model series as well as the sporty top-of-the-range Audi RS 6 and the new Audi A8, which will appear in dealers’ showrooms in November, will help the company to achieve this goal.