Audi is Western Europe?s Top Premium Brand

oh Mercedes and BMW that is really unbelievable

Audi offers a package of quality,design and performance for a good price,that is why they sell so well.However BMW and Mercedes have a certain aura that Audis dont have.

audi has a sporty image without the yobbish image of BMW or the old man image of mercedes...

German premium brands sales in 2008 (and comparison to year 2007): 1. BMW - 1.2 million cars (a 5.8% drop) 2. Mercedes - 1.12 million cars (a 5.4% drop) 3. Audi - 1 million cars (a 4.1% increase) The competition is very tight and it is difficult to say which one will perform better this year.

Of course this has happened Audi is the 'it' brand at the moment. I dont blame them they make nice looking cars with great reliablilty. Even though i would probably go for a 5-Series insted of an A6

Competition makes perfection, guess who is benefiting from this, we consumers are, right!

I love audi's. they rok. i have a q7 and an rs4. luv them

You've got to congratulate Audi; they've managed to kick it with the big boys now, and that's a real achievement. That said, I am waiting for the chorus of "See? Audi's better than Mercedes and BMW!". I think indahead was right on the money - they are very decent cars, but Merc and BMW just have a certain... something. Something inquantifiable. That's why, in my addled mind, Audi remains a competitor more to Lexus than the other germans...

I don't see Lexus reaching these Figures of 1 million, how then is Audi in it's league.. if these figures look like this now it being the first month, what is to say in july...ay...Don't hate..

check the interior of an a4, compare with a 3 series, then a c class, then tell me which is of highest class? audi is not rear wheel drive, so dont expect to drift too much, but what it does do, OVER the competitions is offer the best balance for a luxury car.

^Yes, declining build quality standards!

History?

im with you Lucifa... but right now it's just like moving into a new house, you just have to get use to it being a home...i mean audi is not long in the Big 3 market thing but with time it will be a home name... i mean look at what they achieved in the short time frame,so lets just God willing this crisis passes, then we will see who is King...you know what i mean..

well deserved, Audi rulez.

Hi All, I was curious to read what people think about this topic and after all I read...I couldn't help myself replying. First of all, is't really funny to listen to Americans talking about top-quality. I mean no Offend to any one of you - my point is that in the US market is well known that the cars are LOWER quality in regard to the European market (I mean US car Makers and what is considered to be top-quality). Therefore it is of no surprize to me that you speak of Mercedes and BMW as car manufacturers of the High-Quality make. Well..the truth is that they -WERE- benchmark of high-qualitiy, reliable, durable and well built cars. And that was some 20 years ago. Now they have reduced the quality and let down on many aspects. They rely on the past.. At the moment BMW is trying to attract the customers with it's freaking and ugly design. Looking "fancy" and "cool" and "modern" but nothing like a BMW or a German car. They look more Korean or anything but German premium brand (not trying to isnult the good Korean cars here). On the other hand side Mercedes is trying ...really desperately trying to show some class in their cars. Their poor attempts to "make" an elegant & classic car do not seem to match with "we want to be modern". While the one is trying to be what is not, the other is pathetic in it's attemtp to BE what it USED TO BE! The worst thing of all this is they both LOWERED the quality and many customers turned back on them. Here is AUDI. Audi was neglecting brand some 10-15 years ago. But they grow up extremely fast in the last 10 years. And what they do - they offer to the run-away customers what was not delivered by the competition. The only good things left in BMW nowadays are their brilliant engines. Yes, their engines are jewels! AUDI you say! Here in Europe AUDIs are getting more and more every year. And when I say you Americans speak of BMW and Merc as quality benchmark is because you're not used to AUDI quality. AUDI is well ahead of BMW and MERC in quality execution and many people buy it just because it's built well. The selection and quality of materials is better, the whole thing is put together better. You should also consider that here in the EU market AUDI costs more than BMW and Merc...(most of the selected models) And people prefer to pay a little extra but know what they get for their money! The quality guys! Yes...AUDI are like made on XEROX ...all the same...hard to tell which one is which. Same like the majority of the people who buy them! At the end of the day who cars...better get this one instead of ugly BMW or beeing classical in pathetic way in Merc! Audi is planning a massive expansion on the US market. I wonder what you will say in 2 years time...

I bet 80% of those sales are 2.0 and 3.0 TDI variants. Those engines are now really popular in EU and are loved by people.

audi is cheap and i my opinion not a "premium brand"...that is why, you can also look at audi A4 and fully equipped toyota avensis....i my opinion no diffenrence. But the avensis and a4 is alot cheaper than 3 series and c class....and audis design is not timeless as mercedes , 10 years and audis looks really like old volkswagen passats. But yes competition is good.

audi has a lot of history... auto union and horch were fantastic, and their racing history is the equal of BMW and Mercedes. BMW was just making austin sevens when Audi was challenging world leaders

very well said iamauser ... !!! got nothing to add to that statement - but most of the people here won't get it - since they've never sat in or driven a modern audi in comparison to a BMW or Merc ...

Still the BMW is the BEST!!! No matter what happens.