Audi sets new sales record

With year-on-year sales growth of 11.4 per cent, Audi has achieved its best first half-year in its history by handing over about 869,350 cars to customers. In June alone, the marque delivered around 155,450 cars globally, exceeding the same period of 2013 by 10.8 per cent. The premium brand grew strongly in North America where sales increased by 21.2 per cent year-on-year. “The A3 family and full-size segment in particular have helped accelerate our growth,” says Luca de Meo, management for sales board member. “We’re optimistic we will carry forward the momentum.” Sales of the new A3 jumped to about 144,750, or by 49.4 per cent. Deliveries of the Q3, up by 37 per cent, sales of the Q5 came in 5.5 per cent higher and the Q7, up by 20.8 per cent, also rose substantially. The full-size segment – with the A6, A7, Q7 and A8 – combined to increase sales by 10.1 per cent to 219,450. In the first half of 2014, North America proved important for Audi and was up by 12.8 per cent. The US market saw 84,349 units delivered – an increase of 13.6 per cent. In the Americas, Brazil had the fastest pace of growth. With 6,229 sales, an increase of 141.4 per cent, Audi matched the figure in that country for the whole of 2013 in six months. In China, it delivered more than 50,000 units for the first time in June. Sales of the compact SUV Q3 went up by 61.3 per cent to 7,149. With around 410,050 deliveries between January and June in Europe, the brand topped its record-breaking figure from 2012 by about 17,000 units. In Germany, sales grew by 9.1 per cent to 140,003, while UK deliveries rose by 12.6 per cent to 83,357 units. In Asia-Pacific, Audi sold 60,000 units in June, up by 14.4 per cent compared to 52,360 in the same month of 2013. In the first six months of this year, the total was 318,750, which was a jump of 17.7 per cent from 270,823.