Back in 1998, Audi sold 619,030 cars across five model ranges: A3, A4, A6, A8 and TT.
Sixteen years later, the company has almost trebled in size, selling 1,741,100 cars across 12 ranges in 2014. Factor in different bodystyles and performance versions and it adds up to more than 50 distinct models. That’s some growth.
Between the bookends of the sales figures are other large numbers that help explain Audi’s rise: huge growth in markets such as China and North America, an expansion of production facilities into 10 countries and profits totalling £3.34 billion in 2013.
Drill further down into the numbers and it really starts to get interesting. In 2007 – the year current chairman Rupert Stadler came to power – Audi sold 920,846 cars. In the seven years since, Stadler has come close to doubling Audi’s size. Seven years, don’t forget, that included a global financial crisis. He’s a man with a story to tell.
I meet the 51-year-old Bavarian in an interview room above the Detroit motor show on a day when he unveils the replacement for Audi’s original Q model, the Q7. Stadler appears remarkably relaxed for someone with such a large in-tray, although the record 2014 sales, a 10.5% rise on the 2013 figure, announced two days before we meet, go some way to explaining his smile.
Read Article