- An increase of 19 percent in Australia
- Vehicle sales in China more than doubled
- Substantial increases in Germany and the USA
- World premiere of the new Audi TT Coupé in Berlin
Audi sold more than 226,700 vehicles worldwide in the first quarter of 2006 –
16 percent more than last year (194,970)*. More than 93,600 vehicles were sold
in March, an increase of around 10 percent on the same month of last year
(85,389). These figures represent the best March and the best first quarter in
the company’s history.
In Australia, sales of Audi vehicles in March numbered 460 units, an all-time
record for the month of March. March YTD, Audi sales in Australia are up 19
percent compared with 2005.
Among the models with the highest growth rates worldwide are the Audi A3 (up
22 percent to approximately 65,400 vehicles), the Audi A6 (up 49 percent to
59,500 vehicles) and the Audi A8 (up 29 percent to 6,100 units). Sales of the
Audi A4 increased by around 3 percent to 82,300 vehicles. 6,400 A4 Cabriolet
models were sold, an increase of 6 percent. Around 3,300 Audi Q7 models were
handed over to customers in the first three weeks following its launch in
Central Europe.
“While the Audi Q7 is currently being launched across European, we are
already preparing dealers for the next model, the new Audi TT Coupé, which will
make its world premiere on 6 April in Berlin,” stated Ralph Weyler, Member of
the Board for Marketing and Sales at AUDI AG.
The highest growth rate in the first quarter was recorded on the Chinese
market (incl. Hong Kong): with a total of 19,161 vehicles sold, last year’s
figure (8,473) was more than doubled. In the rest of Asia, too, an above-average
increase of about one third was recorded, with around 6,700 units sold (4,954).
In Germany, 60,286 vehicles were sold in the first quarter (56,141), an
increase of 7.4 percent. 25,784 cars were handed over to their new owners in
March (24,728), 4.3 percent more than last year.
In the USA, 17,884 vehicles were sold in the first quarter (16,835), an
increase of 6.2 percent. The figure for March was 6,994 (6,502), 7.6 percent
more than last year.
Ralph Weyler commented: “Audi’s flourishing sales markets, such as South
Korea, Australia, Russia and the Gulf States, where Audi now operates with its
own importer companies, have also played a considerable role in achieving the
worldwide record result in the first quarter. In some of these markets we are
now selling as many models in a single quarter as we did a few years ago in an
entire year. And the potential of our brand is far from being exhausted.”
Audi Australia managing director, Joerg Hofmann, confirmed that the company
is still on target for another record year.
“We are planning to achieve another year of ‘double digit’ growth in 2006,”
Hofmann said.
*) prior-year figures in brackets
|
