• Target for 2006: 50,000 more vehicles sold than in 2005
• Up to August: 601,500 vehicles sold worldwide (up 8.6 percent)
• August: 63,700 vehicles handed over worldwide (up 7.7 percent)
• Audi leading premium brand in China

With 601,500 vehicles sold worldwide, an increase of 8.6 percent (2005: 553,991)*, Audi has achieved yet another sales record in the first eight months of 2006.

“This result means that we go into the last third of the year on a high and are well on course to achieve record sales for the eleventh consecutive year. We aim to sell around 50,000 more vehicles this year than we did last year,” stated Ralph Weyler, Board Member for Marketing and Sales at AUDI AG.

Audi handed over 63,700 models to their new owners in August, an increase of 7.7 percent on August 2005 (59,163).

The sales figures of the largest markets:

Total Europe
Jan.-Aug. 2006: 445,900 vehicles sold (2005: 427,510, up 4.3 percent) August 2006: 43,800 vehicles sold (2005: 41,074, up 6.7 percent)
Germany alone
Jan.-Aug. 2006: 169,208 vehicles sold (2005: 166,734, up 1.5 percent) August 2006: 19,572 (2005: 17,915, up 9.2 percent)
USA
Jan.-Aug. 2006: 54,575 vehicles sold (2005: 51,802, up 5.4 percent) August 2006: 7,115 (2005: 6,911, up 3.0 percent)
China
Jan.-Aug. 2006: 52,590 vehicles sold (2005: 30,667, up 71.5 percent) August 2006: 7,354 (2005: 5,551, up 32.5 percent)

This makes Audi the leading and the fastest-growing premium brand in China.

In Australia, record sales of 479 units saw the company up 12% compared with 2005 sales. Australia is now well on target to end the year with double digit growth.,

The models which have made the greatest contribution to the record-breaking result up to the end of August are the Audi A3 (162,000 units sold, up 13.3 percent), the Audi A4 Cabriolet (21,450, up 17.9 percent), the Audi A6 (158,500, up 18.9 percent), the Audi A8 (15,200, up 10.6 percent) and the Audi Q7 (26,100 units sold).

“The Audi Q7 has received a rapturous reception from customers. We will be making further additions to the existing range over the next few weeks. And the new Audi TT Coupé has been in dealers’ showrooms since last weekend. It will be launched gradually in the international markets in the course of the next few weeks. Together with the success of our core models lines, this will provide us with the momentum we need to sell around 880,000 vehicles this year,” commented Weyler.

*) figures in brackets are the corresponding prior-year figures / increase in 2006 compared with 2005