Audi AG, a completely owned subsidiary of Volkswagen Group, is maintaining its pace of growth as the company sold around 346,100 vehicles, which showed a growth of 10.8 per cent. The sales in the first quarter of 2012 were accounted as highest ever in the company’s history. With a decent start, the sales figures of March stood around 143,500 units, which marked a growth of 14.1 percent. Till now, Audi has not recorded such figures in a single month. The growth between January and March was mainly boosted because of the customers of USA and China, wherein the company also marked record sales. Parallel to this, Audi also reported growth in the domestic market of Germany and Eastern Europe.
Peter Schwarzenbauer, Member of Board of Management, Marketing and Sales, Audi AG, said, “We kicked off 2012 very successfully and expect growth to continue in the months to come. Our new A3 will be rolled out from the second half of this year, and we have just introduced the new-generation A6L in China.”
The company also achieved its highest quarter sales even in the auto market of China. Audi registered a growth of 40.5 per cent by delivering more 25,941 new versions to Chinese buyers during first three months of 2012. From the 31,505 vehicles delivered in March, marking a growth of 37 per cent, a brilliant share in the market was accomplished by the domestically produced models like A4L, A6L and Q5. On the other hand, a sum of 4,674 people additionally acquired the Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) of Audi, which showed a growth of 139.9 percent, as compared to sales figures of March 2011. However, the auto market of China has emerged as a prominent place for Audi A8, a luxurious sedan, which accounted 40 per cent share in its global sales.
Along with China, the company is also experiencing a sales boost in the market of USA. The sales of Audi A6 in the first quarter of 2012 were 3,581 units, reporting a growth of 87.3 per cent, which was almost double from the corresponding period in 2011. The company sold around 29,470 units in the first quarter, marking a growth of 16.1 percent and company record in United States. Again in March, the sales figures of Audi grew in double-digits, by 18 per cent amounting to 11,585 units. The company also recorded sales growth in double digits in other main markets of the America, such as the first quarter sales in Canada increased by 23.3 percent, whereas in Brazil and Argentina the figures stood at 37.3 percent and 49.3 percent, respectively.
The auto maker also expanded its business in Germany. The company reported sales of 25,140 units during the last month, marking an increase of 4.8 per cent. However, the general growth of Audi during first quarter of 2012 concluded at 3 per cent, as the figure stood at 57,976 units. A major role is played by Audi A6, since the company recorded sales of 12,448 units during the first three months, registering a growth of 74 per cent.
The overall sales of Europe also showed positive signs to the German auto maker. However, sales of Audi during the first quarter witnessed a slight downfall of 0.1 percent, the overall growth rate of the company reported increasing in every consecutive month. In March, Audi marked a growth of 7 per cent, which was mainly boosted up because of growth in three main countries. During March, the sales in United Kingdom expanded by 8.6 per cent amounting to 23,062 units, whereas in France, the company reported growth of 5.4 per cent to 6,219 units. The sales in Russia were also healthy, wherein the company boosted by 99.9 per cent, amounting to 3,404 units. This brilliant growth was derived mainly because of the A5, A6 and few SUV models.
As far as markets of India and South Korea are concerned, they also played a key role in the quarterly sales record of Audi. During first quarter, the sales of Audi in India grew by 40.8 per cent, which stood at 2,269 units. In addition to this, the company also reported year-on-year (YOY) growth of 41.7 per cent in the auto market of South Korea by delivering 3,365 units.
