WSJ: Audi defies industry gloom - sells 1 million cars in 2008

It truly is amazing to see Audi post a GLOBAL sales INCREASE of 4.1% compared to 2007.

These results are a true indication that Audi is indeed becoming a larger competitor for BMW and Mercedes-Benz. Given the scary figures we saw out of BMW and MB, I don't think BMW or MB will have an increase in sales globally compared to 2007.

Reuters just confirmed by prediciton: Mercedes-Benz brand saw sales DECLINE 5.4% globally compared to 2007 bringing the global sales figure down to 1.12 million cars.

Wait till the first quarter of this year.

Audi's are just as expensive, if not more once fully equipped, then the competition's models. This hardly equates to "more bang for the buck."

Audi's are just as expensive, if not more expensive once fully equipped, then the competition. However, Audi's unique styling and exceptional quality means you get more then the competition offers (...BMW interiors...), thus justifying paying a premium.

But I agree,
people tend to buy 328i's just to have a BMW. Sad thing is the majority of Toyota SUV's are just as "expensive". : /

If German engineering is so superior, why didn't the BMW and the Mercedes post sales increases? Or maybe Audi stole the customers from them also?

Down to earth that kind of logic has no place on a forum like this. It couldn't be that Audi had such a dismal '07 that a 4% increase for '08 is actually a 30% decrease for a 2 year mean? You need to learn something about autospies you poor dumb stupid bastard... The Germans NEVER lose market share to the Japs, the Japs always copy and steal it! I bet you're a vegetarian. Still cuckoo for cocopuffs, Denny Crane!

BSBB you're in denial... If German engineering was truly superior to the Japs, they would have had better than a 7th place finish in the J.D. Power & Associates list of the most reliable cars of 2008. The first indication you are in denial is that you lie to yourself and believe it. BMW finished 7th and is the only german manufacturer in the top ten. You can keep filling your head with this garbage, but you lack the facts to support your argument. Live by the gun, die by the gun. Denny Crane!

this is Audi's best world wide sales ever.

BSBB, reliability is more subjective then relative, but to the buying public who do not consider themselves to be gearheads, it's more relavant than you think. Denny Crane is not going to drive a diesel, no matter how many obscure awards it wins. Denny Crane is not going to walk around Boston with his hands smelling like diesel fuel to save a few polar bears. Until KBB starts adjusting car values for obscure global engine awards, people like me will continue to put our money and confidence where we get the best return, that's right trunk money! I drive the Benz because I get $30k off the sticker, makes me feel like a man to get a big discount and have my car in the shop all the time. Denny Crane, Trix are for Kids...

I kinda like the DennyCrane fella! lol. Sounds like he's got Swagger! Of course I have been told I act like the Fraiser character on TV so...

Maybe calling them "Japs" wasn't appropriate, but I somewhat agree. I also think Audi diversified it's range with more appealing models, stealing some sales from fellow German MB. And we all know BMW drivers still can't afford the Audi's.

Audi has seen 13 consecutive years of sales increases so how could they have a two year 30% decrease? Audi has ben stealing from everyone not just the Japanese. I know plenty of people that bought an A6 and came out of a 5 series. Not everyone buys the same brand every time they need a new car.

Agreed. What are you talking about Crane? Audi has increased sales for the last 13 years in record numbers. What is this 30% decline. You make no sense whatsoever.

Audi genuinely deserved it. Everything Audi has presented recently was either good or great, every decision they made was correct and made sense. They were late in SUV business but prepared Q7 which is very "audish", immensely safe, drives well, offers great quality and the improved 40:60 quattro. Their debut in sportscar territory with the R8 was a genuine success with great looks and great drive with highly rear-biased (15:85) quattro safety and stability. With the new Audi A4 (especially A4 Avant S-line) they honestly found the golden mean of car styling: classy, balanced but modern and handsome, appeals to anyone, no one would say its ugly. They also made it drive brilliantly by shifting front axle further to the front, swapping the front diff and steering rack and introducing 40:60 quattro, hence improving steering and dynamics. You can have it with as an Avant S-line with 2-litre turbocharged petrol engine, a 7-speed DSG gearbox and 40:60 quattro. Fast and relatively frugal. What can possibly be better? 2009 S4 introduces the rear torque-vectoring diff. Yes, Acuras, Evos and Subarus has it for a while and BMW put it on sales recently but again, Audi came late and made it better by mating the rear torque vectoring with torque-sensing center differential. Results? 2009 S4 has the best AWD in the World. A6 outguns 5series in terms of safety (much better crash test results) and interior quality and as quattro offers generally a better overall package. The RS6 is overall a better all-rounder than more radical M5, faster as well. The S8 smells like the best all-rounder car in the World that does everything. A5/S5? The most masculine car on the market today. Audi usually is at the top or near the top of IIHS accidents statistics with lowest drivers deaths/injuries indicators in various vehicle classes, virtually always beating BMW/MB/Lexus/Infiniti/Acura. They built a V10 everyone adores in Lamborghinis. In some cases BMW has temporary advantage with their 23d and 35d twin turbo diesels (and the Merc with 250CDI) but in the segment where most sales sit, Audi keeps up with their 2.0 170HP TDI and 3.0 240HP TDI and the twin turbo 2.0 TDI is on the way. They started the double-clutch wave with early S-tronics in TT. They co-developed the downsizing benchmark with twincharged 1.4 TSI (a petrol engine with a supercharged and the turbocharger mated, resulting in 140HP-170HP from a 1.4 litres!) and no manufacturer as for now can beat this small petrol power plant. Don't think for a minute their sales increase while others tumble is a coincidence. It's the result of years of pushing technical innovation, only they weren't as acknowledged before as they deserved. They were first to mate turbocharging with AWD in rallying and actually gave birth to Evos and Imprezas. Many many years ago they introduced the Audi V8 with TWO TORSEN diffs, capable of vectoring torque between the front and rear axle and between rear wheels. Not so many years ago they started ma

[...] making aluminum A8. Even less years ago they introduced a tiny but relatively spacious aluminum A2 with a tiny diesel engine reaching a real-life combined US-MPG of 67, with an automatic gearbox! They were first to make turbocharging with petrol direct injection. They started the turbodiesels surge with direct injection and variable vane geometry wave, TDI is the prime name in automotive diesel industry. They started the attitude of making cars with nice-to-be interiors (where drivers actually spend 99,99% of their time with the car, hence importance of it). They were first to introduce BIN5 50-state legal diesels in the U.S without using AdBlue! MB tried this using AdBlue handicap yet failed emissions tests with their E320 Bluetec CDI. They only lag behind in reliability (according to JDPower and CR) and in hybrids but Golf TwinDrive and some Audi A1 hybrids are on the way. And they didn't pay me for this post, it's all truth!!

The Lancia Fan, I'm not biased towards Audi, I just praise their technology, ingenuity and ambition. I find bias idiotic so why should I do it on a public forum? First of all, high emission standards are not about Califormia but about TEN U.S states overall. They were established not because of political interests but to protect citizens from cancerous agents in the air. Do you want to get lung cancer? I don't think so. Then, BlueTEC diesels can be sold in these ten states only in ML and GL. Why? Because these cars are trucks and are subjected to lower emission standards. Meanwhile, let me copy-paste the low-contrast message about the E320 CDI BlueTEC CAR (not truck) straigh from the MB website: "The 2009 E 320 BlueTEC does not meet the emissions requirements of California, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Oregon, Washington State, or Vermont and is not available in these states". How about that? Then, indeed the old Benz diesels maybe were first but they never had direct injection. It was the Audi 80 1.9 TDI which mated the turbocharging with direct injection in a diesel engine and started diesel wave in the European Union. These pump-unit injectors quickly phased out MB prechamber engines. Obviously now other makers offer competitive common-rail diesels but it was the Audi who pioneered this path. Then, I never claimed Audi were first to make aluminum cars but in the recent times of mass market vehicles they probably produced most of such ones with their space frame (ASF) used in A8/A2. Reliability? I did point it out as a disadvantage.

Let's face it, the reason Audi was able to push forward when everyone else retreated was because of the all-new A4. I'd like to see the numbers, but I'd make a blind wager that the A6 and A8 (the rest of their bread and butter) posted sales decreases. With the A4 being more of a volume vehicle, price accessible, and being all new, it more than made up for the others. Now the question is: Can it sustain that growth curve in 2009??? Any thoughts?
BTW, Audi is a premium brand worthy of all of the accolades that downtoearth has given them. I just don't see it continuing at that same pace this year...

formula666, bear in mind that at the very beginning of 2007 Mercedes debuted with their new C class which is in the same volume market segment and the A4. And yet it didn't help them, contrary to Audi, to suffer sales losses.

formula666, the Audi A8 will be re-designed in fall of 2009. It will be an evolutionary change with a much stronger, muscular presence than the current car.

The interior will also be brand new and will, of course, be the new standard bearer for interior perfection putting the new 2009 BMW 7-series in 2nd place for interior execution.

formula666 by your rational then we should not count the new M3, or X5 or X6 towards BMW sales figures. If you were betting on any car company for another increase next year would you bet on the one with 13 years in a row? I certainly would. Next year when they sell 1,200,000 cars you can blame it on the new A8, Q5, A6 and maybe A7.....oh yeah and S4 for the North American consumer.

Yes. All are great points. I do believe that the C-Class DID give M.B. a shot in the arm for thier 2007 sales figures and has also kept them from falling further in 2008. This article is about volume, so I was merely implying that when a manufacturer debuts a new model in a volume segment, they will show better sales growth. GermanNut, the A8 isn't a volume car, so Audi WILL have to rely on continued strength from the A4 in much the same way the C-Class kept M.B. from posting worse figures for '08. Dutchman, you are correct, as well. I DON'T believe that the M3 or X6 are "volume" cars, so no, I won't be blaiming those models or the A7 or S4 because they are more unique, niche cars. They certainly suppliment sales growth, but aren't the ones that will make you a world volume leader. That goes to the A-Class, B-Class, C-Class, 1-Series, 3-series, A3, A4, etc.
Thanks for the feedback!!! Just my opinions! Have a great day!!!

Audi is already doing phenomenal with their volume cars such as the new A4. The A6 continues to outsell the Mercedes E-class and the BMW 5-series globally. Audi will be launching the high-volume A1 at the end of 2009 as well as their Q5 high-volume SUV.

The model onslaught doesn't end there for Audi as they will be introducing the 4-door coupe A7 to battle the Benz CLS and will also be adding the high-powered V10 R8 and R8 cabriolet models. While these models are certainly not considered 'high volume', they allow Audi to plug in the existing gaps in their product range to make sure each niche is covered.

True. Excellent supplimental models. And the A1 should kick some serious ass globally. The way Audi is perceived these days, they shouldn't be taken lightly!

Don't forget the new A8 will debut next year probably at Frankfurt or Paris (where Audi likes to introduce its high-end models most often). The new A8 will raise the bar even higher. We might also see the possibility of a Q3 and a sportback version of the A5, the A7; and not to mention the S4 followed by the RS5 and RS4. Then you will get a new A6 and A3.

You also need to take into account that if your are not as present in North America than all the other carmakers, and this specific market goes down tremendously, than you are not as high affeceted as all the others. So for Audi in this case it was an advantage to play a minor role so far in the US.

Agent507, since the U.S. will remain in recession for at least the first half of 2009, if not all of 2009, I firmly believe Audi will once again post signifcantly better sales results in terms of percentage increases compared to Mercedes-Benz and BMW.