Global sales increased in March by 15.4% to around 170,450 cars
Sales chief Luca de Meo: “Growth in Europe stronger than the market”
Cabriolet extends successful new A3 family*
In March, Audi delivered more cars to customers than ever before in a single month: around 170,450 deliveries worldwide, a 15.4 percent year-on-year increase. This result also made March the 51st consecutive month with global sales growth for the four rings. China (+36.6%), Germany (+10.2%) and the United Kingdom (+12.7%) achieved particularly high growth in the past month. Audi’s cumulative sales increased by 11.7 percent in the first quarter to around 412,850 units. This was the first time that the company has exceeded the mark of 400,000 vehicles in the first three months.
“In March we achieved a double best figure, completing the most successful first quarter in our company history with the strongest sales month ever,” says
Luca de Meo, Member of the Board of Management for Sales at AUDI AG. “With new models like the A3 Sedan* the internationalization of our business is gaining momentum. In the first quarter we achieved substantial growth in all regions around the world and grew more strongly than the market in Europe.”
In March, the convertibles with the four rings played an important role in the successful start to the spring season: The A5 Cabriolet* (+8.3%) and the
TT Roadster* (+22.6%) achieved a significant global increase year-on-year.
In addition, the new A3 Cabriolet* arrived at dealers in the first markets. The
A3 Sportback g-tron* also celebrated its premiere at dealers in March, paving the way for CO2-neutral mobility with Audi e-gas. For the entire A3 family*, sales figures climbed by 52.5 percent to around 28,750 cars last month. The Q7* (+39%) and the A8* (+49%) achieved the strongest growth among the brand’s full-size models.
In Europe, Audi concluded March with an increase of 7.2 percent across all models to around 88,750 cars sold. In addition to renewed high growth in Germany (+10.2% to 27,226 cars), the two largest European export markets in particular provided a further boost: 28,068 units were delivered in the United Kingdom, a 12.7 percent year-on-year increase; the 5,425 cars sold in France represent a 5.1 percent increase. As the region’s leading premium brand, Audi sales in Europe thus totaled around 200,350 cars for the quarter, 6.8 percent more than one year ago.
Among the large markets in Asia, South Korea also spearheaded the dynamic growth for Audi in March, where sales increased by 82.0 percent to 2,457 cars in March. Audi has seen sales increase here by 54.5 percent to 6,815 units since the start of the year. In China, strong demand for Audi’s full-size models fueled sales in March: The A6*, A7*, Q7 and A8 achieved combined growth of 38.3 percent. Across all models, the delivery totals in the Middle Kingdom came to 47,636 cars, a 36.6 percent increase year-on-year. Cumulative total sales of 124,520 vehicles delivered since January represent an increase of 21.1 percent.
In the United States, Audi increased sales to 14,246 units, a 7.5 percent increase on the March 2013 level. In particular, far more customers opted for the Q7 full-size SUV (+45.8%) than was the case one year previously. As such, Audi of America has 35,228 delivered cars on its books in the first quarter, an increase of 3.0 percent. Bringing a new important addition to Audi’s U.S. portfolio, the A3 Sedan is launched this month. The model has already entered successfully the market in Brazil where Audi achieved three-figure growth rates also in March (+137.0% to 891 cars).
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