Audi the clear premium market leader in Europe

Audi AG sold around 705,300 cars worldwide from January through September. The cumulative result is thus a mere 7.5 percent behind last year’s record (2008: 762,288 cars) in a situation that continues to be difficult. In the first three quarters of the year, the company’s unit sales were ahead of the projected figures, with Audi aiming to deliver approximately 900,000 cars to customers in 2009 as a whole.

In September the company delivered around 88,600 cars, with sales remaining some 6.8 percent behind the strong figures of last September (2008: 95,136).

The company recorded high growth in the BRIC countries, especially in China. Other emerging markets in the Asia-Pacific region have also improved significantly on last year.

“Our unit sales developed better than expected during the first three quarters of the year,” says Peter Schwarzenbauer, Member of the Board of Management for Marketing and Sales at Audi AG. “In the United States we’ve consolidated our position, and in China we’ve reasserted our leadership. And the current figures confirm our position as Europe’s leading premium brand. We have been able to significantly strengthen our brand during these months.” As the registration statistics of the European manufacturer’s organization ACEA show, Audi is the clear market leader in terms of new car registrations in the overall European premium segment.

With regard to the year as a whole, Schwarzenbauer reconfirmed that the brand still aims to achieve the unit sales target stated in January. In 2009 Audi AG plans to sell about 900,000 vehicles.

For the overall Asia-Pacific region the company recorded a growth of 17.2 percent to 138,523 cars (2008: 118,178). In September alone sales again increased by 31.4 percent to 19,501 cars (2008: 14,842).

Besides China, strong growth especially in the Australian, South Korean and Indian markets played a role. In the United States Audi fared significantly better than the premium market.

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