December 8, 2010
Source: Audi of America
· Around 1,003,900 cars sold worldwide in first eleven months
· Board Member for Sales Schwarzenbauer: Germany again set to win head-to-head race with China
· Schwarzenbauer on Chinese growth market: Expect real boom to still be ahead of us
AUDI AG has already broken its sales record from 2008 in the first eleven months of this year. Between January and November the brand sold around 1,003,900 cars, beating the sales figures of the previous best year in the companys history (1,003,469). Compared with the same period of the crisis-hit year of 2009, sales figures were up 15.3 percent. This upturn was driven by high growth rates in China and the brands growing success in the United States. Meanwhile demand in Germany is picking up again, too.
The number of orders received in Germany continues to rise, especially in the important fleet customer market. At the same time the Audi A1 is generating plenty of interest among our private customers, commented Peter Schwarzenbauer, Member of the Board of Management for Marketing and Sales at AUDI AG . Despite the high growth of recent months in China, Germany will once again win the head-to-head race among our biggest markets in 2010.
In AUDI AGs home market Germany, the sales figures rose by 1.0 percent in November to 22,055 units; over the first eleven months of the year the Company sold 205,207 cars there (down 2.9 percent). Schwarzenbauer stated that December will help Audi to finish the year strongly thanks to the high number of orders received in recent weeks.
In China, the company exceeded the mark of 200,000 cars for the first time ever. Thanks to 50 percent growth compared with the prior-year period, Audi sold 209,752 premium cars there in the first eleven months. In November Audi delivered 17,692 cars, an increase of 7.2 percent. We expect that the real boom in China is still ahead of us, Schwarzenbauer said. Here at Audi we are preparing for a significant rise in demand next year, too.
In Europe, the brand confirmed its position as premium market leader over the eleven-month period. In Western Europe unit sales between January and November rose by 3 percent to around 562,800 units, and in November some 47,800 customers bought a new car from the Ingolstadt carmaker (down 3.7 percent). In Eastern Europe, Audi posted a growth rate of 39.1 percent in November, taking it to 3,050 units; the grand total there for the year to date was 32,700 units (up 15.1 percent).
The brands popularity also continues to grow in the U.S. market. In what is now the second-biggest car market in the world, Audis sales figures climbed 37.5 percent in November; cumulatively, the Ingolstadt-based company has therefore sold 91,083 premium cars there since January, an improvement of 23.6 percent on the prior-year period. Audi of America has set itself the target for the full year of breaking the barrier of 100,000 cars sold for the first time ever.
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