Audi Annual Sales Pass One Million for First Time

Even in a tough year like 2008, Audi was able to achieve one of its foremost goals for the brand - to crack the 1 million sales mark.

The Ingolstadt, Germany-based Audi, part of the VW Group, increased its sales for 2008 by 4.1 percent, selling 1,003,400 vehicles for the year.

Audi continues to pursue its primary strategy to make the brand as competitive as possible with its far more established fellow German rivals, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. In 2008, it introduced the first generation Audi Q5 SUV along with a new A4 Avant and product upgrades of the A3 and A6. As a result, Audi sports the youngest model range in the premium brand market.

This is the 13th consecutive year of record sales for Audi, proof that its strategy for catching up to its rivals is working. In a market with plummeting sales, the brand increased December sales in Western Europe by 22.7 percent compared to December 2007. For 2008, total sales were up 2.5 percent for the region. Audi also saw an increase in sales in the Asia-Pacific region by 15.6 percent for the whole of 2008, although sales in the United States were down from 2007.

Rupert Stadler, Chairman of AUDI AG, said in a press release,"We want to make Audi the most attractive premium brand worldwide." Translation: we hope to beat BMW and Mercedes sales figures someday.

Press Release

• Company achieves 13th record year in a row
• Worldwide unit sales increased by 4.1 percent
• 12 new models helped boost unit sales
• Audi Chairman Stadler: “We want to make Audi the most attractive premium brand worldwide”

AUDI AG has achieved its stated objective of selling one million cars in 2008 for the first time in its history. With about 1,003,400 cars sold worldwide, Audi increased its unit sales volume by 4.1 percent over the prior year (2007: 964,151). With the newly introduced Audi Q5 and the successful young A4 family, sales in December increased by 17.4 percent over the prior year’s December, to around 82,800 units (2007: 70,523).

“This 13th record year in a row is a success achieved by the entire Audi team. I would like to express the gratitude of the Board of Management for your wholehearted commitment,” says Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG. “We’ll continue to draw on this strength in the difficult year of 2009. We have ambitious long-term goals: We want to make Audi the most attractive premium brand worldwide.”

In the past year, the Ingolstadt-based firm has launched 12 new or upgraded models. This gives Audi the advantage of having the youngest model range in the premium segment. The most important introductions were the Audi A4 sedan, which was rolled out in Europe in November 2007, the Audi A4 Avant which followed in April, product upgrades of the A3 and A6, and the brand-new Audi Q5.

“We will keep up our model initiative as planned: In 2009 we’ll continue to offer our customers a succession of new models,” says Peter Schwarzenbauer, Member of the Board of Management for Marketing and Sales of AUDI AG.

Audi achieved growth especially in the European markets and in the Asia-Pacific region. In Western Europe, unit sales of around 53,900 in December surpassed the prior year’s December by 22.7 percent (2007: 43,969). In the entire year of 2008, Audi sold some 667,000 cars in this region, 2.5 percent more than in the prior year (2007: 650,407). These excellent sales volumes also resulted in record market shares in Western Europe and Germany.

In the Asia-Pacific region, Audi delivered new cars to around 14,000 customers in December, an increase of 15.6 percent in unit sales (2007: 12,097). During the entire year, 155,100 customers bought an Audi in this region – 15.6 percent more than in 2007.

In the USA, the third-largest export market for the premium brand from Ingolstadt, sales of 87,760 cars in 2008 amounted to a 6.1 percent drop from the prior year (2007: 93,506). In December Audi sold 7,712 units here, 9.3 percent fewer than in the prior year (2007: 8,504).