AUDI AG: double-digit sales growth continues in September
· Around 136,600 deliveries worldwide – up 13.6 percent Audi sales figures continue to rise at a double-digit rate: In September the company delivered around 136,600 automobiles to customers worldwide. This represents an increase of 13.6 percent. In the first three quarters, around 1,097,500 customers chose a model with the four rings – 12.8 percent more than in the prior-year period. The past month saw the company benefit from continuing strong growth in the United States (+26.5%) and China (+20.5%). Furthermore, AUDI AG yet again grew in Europe, despite the difficult market conditions in some parts of the region – sales were up 7.4 percent on the corresponding month of 2011. As a result, September saw the Ingolstadt-based company maintain its sales growth in all regions of the world.
‘This year we reached the tally of one million cars sold after just nine months – clear evidence that we are realizing our strategic goals in the right way,’ commented Luca de Meo, Member of the Board of Management for Marketing and Sales at AUDI AG. ‘We are seeing our new models succeed in the marketplace, reflecting the tastes of customers,’ continued de Meo.
Especially models such as the A1 Sportback, the Q3 and the A6 Avant contributed to growth of 7.4 percent in Europe compared with the same month of the previous year. Audi thus maintained its pattern of growth in the home market of Germany in September, posting sales growth of 3.5 percent (20,712 units). Cumulatively, unit sales in Germany after the first nine months of the year have now reached 198,777 automobiles delivered (+7.4%). The second-largest European market for Audi also reported a clear jump in sales last month: Its sales total in the United Kingdom increased by 20 percent to 22,389 units.
The dynamic growth of recent months continued in Russia, where the four rings ended the month up 57.3 percent on the corresponding period of 2011. From January through September, 25,442 Russian customers took receipt of the keys to a new Audi, 42.9 percent more than in the equivalent period of 2011. Growth in Russia was driven by the range of SUV models available from the Ingolstadt carmaker. For example the Q3 – which has not yet been on the market for a full year – is already the country’s best-selling Audi model, closely followed by the Audi Q5.
Audi of America added a further chapter to its success story in September with yet another record month. In the United States the company sold 26.5 percent more vehicles than in the corresponding month of the previous year. Its performance owed much to the steady growth of the new-generation A4 and A5, and to the swift progress made by the Q7. Almost twice as many customers as in September 2011 chose to buy this full-size SUV model (+94.6%). With 100,694 cars sold in the year to date, this is the first time ever that Audi of America has exceeded the 100,000 mark by the end of the third quarter – in 2011 it did not reach that point until into November. The successful C and D-segment models from the Ingolstadt carmaker are instrumental in this success, representing 31.3 percent of the company’s deliveries in the United States in the nine-month period.
The SUV and full-size models also put in a strong performance in China. Unit sales there continued to climb, and the delivery total of 35,512 for September was up 20.5 percent on the same month of 2011. Cumulatively, Audi increased its sales there to 297,060 automobiles, representing a growth rate of 31.4 percent. The most popular model with customers remained the locally built A6 L, of which some 96,100 were sold.
In the Asia-Pacific region Audi also enjoyed considerable growth in India in the past month. Demand for models with the four rings was up 82.2 percent there. With a total of 6,423 cars delivered in the first three quarters of the year, Audi already exceeded the record sales total for the whole of 2011 (5,511 units) by the end of September.
|