Audi increases sales by 5.6 percent in the first half of the year
Positive sales result for the Four Rings for the half year: With around 953,200 units delivered, AUDI AG increased its sales since January by 5.6 percent, growing in all regions. The brand recorded strong growth especially in Europe. Sales in that region increased by 8.4 percent since the beginning of the year, topping 450,000 cars for the first time. Worldwide, especially the new models Audi A4 (+12.3%) and Audi Q7 full size SUV (+73,6%) pushed the sales performance. Deliveries across all models increased by 7.4 percent in June to around 169,000 units with Audi surpassing its performance from the same month last year in all top ten sales markets.
“Despite persisting challenges in key markets, the first half of 2016 was mainly characterized by globally balanced growth. We reinforced our market leadership in Europe and China and are performing better than the overall market in the United States,” says Dietmar Voggenreiter, Member of the Board of Management for Sales and Marketing at AUDI AG. “In the upcoming months, we will continue to strengthen our model portfolio with new technologies and concepts like the Audi Q7 e-tron*, the A6L e-tron, the SQ7 TDI* and the Q2.”
With the European market launch of the new Audi A5 in the fall and the updated Audi A3 this month, a generation change is in store for the already successful key models.
In June, Audi handed over around 78,700 (+9.8%) cars in Europe across all models. The company thus set new records for deliveries in each of the six months in this region. Cumulatively, sales increased by 8.4 percent to around 455,250 cars. New models, above all, provided a boost in Audi’s largest sales region: Sales of the Audi Q7 full‑size SUV more than doubled, while demand for the new Audi A4 climbed by almost 20 percent. The brand posted significant growth primarily in Germany (+12.4% to 166,154 units), Italy (+14.6% to 32,124 units) and Spain (+14.5% to 28,803 units). The manufacturer also made further gains in its largest European export market, the UK: up 4.1 percent to 89,935 cars. This increase was fueled in particular by strong demand for the Audi TT, which saw a 36 percent increase in deliveries in the United Kingdom. With sales of around 17,650 since January, the Audi TT secured its position as the top‑selling compact sports car in the premium segment.
On the American continent as well, deliveries of the Ingolstadt‑based brand increased in the last six months: up 3.5 percent to around 131,450 units. Of those, 96,934 were sold in the United States, also representing an increase of 3.5 percent. Nearly every second US customer chose an SUV. Cumulative sales of the Audi Q3, Q5 and Q7 thus climbed by 24 percent to 45,195 cars. Audi continued its successful course in the US market in June. A one percent increase marked the 66th month of growth in a row. Canada once again proved to be an important growth driver in the region. In the first half of the year, the company sold 15,614 units there, 16 percent more than in the same period last year.
Sales continued to develop positively in the Asia‑Pacific region as well. Compared to the deliveries in the first half of 2015, sales increased by 3.9 percent to around 339,300 premium cars sold. In recent months, Audi made gains in China primarily with its compact models: In the first six months, the company handed over 81,083 units of the Audi A3 and Q3 to customers, corresponding to an increase of 21.7 percent. Across all models, sales in China increased by 5.9 percent to 290,126 units. Demand increased by 6.6 percent in June. In addition to China, Australia also showed strong growth in the region: Since the beginning of the year, 12,155 units have entered the Australian market, up 7.2 percent.
