Audi reported its best first quarter sales it has ever had in its history, which the Ingolstadt based company says is due to an increase in acceptance of its cars in the domestic markets as well as new emerging markets such as China. The stupendous success of the A1 entry level model is also another factor that helped the company achieve record first quarter sales.
The rise in global sales of Audi has been a whopping 18.4 percent compared to the company’s year ago performance during the same period. This translates to a total of 3,12,600 vehicles sold in the span of just the first three months. The month of March saw the hike by 13.9 percent to a figure of 1,25,700.
Audi officials reveal their newest baby, the A1 has been adding volumes to its first quarter sales. Out of the 31,000 units of the A1 that the company has sold since January 2011, a sizable 13,880 were sold in the month of March only. The A1 is the smallest as well as the cheapest car model to bear the famed 4 ring logo of Audi with price starting as low as just 15,800 Euros for the base version in Germany.
Peter Schwatzenbauer who is the head of marketing and sales of the company has declared that the latest generation A6 which has been launched in Europe on the first of April will further add to the company’s sales in the months to come.
“The A6 is very successful in its segment. With the new generation we see even greater potential – especially in China and the United States, but in Germany as well,” said Schwarzenbauer in a statement before also adding, “Over the life cycle of the new A6 sedan we want to exceed the total sales volume of its predecessor by around 25 percent.”
During the seven-year life cycle, approximately I million units of the outgoing A6 have been sold.
In the meantime, Audi’s success story in China continues unabated. In fact, China has emerged as the single biggest market for Audi branded cars with sales soaring 24.6 percent to 64,122 units sold during the first quarter. Germany came in at the second spot for the brand with sales soaring to 56,283 or a jump of 13.7 percent. The third largest market of Audi is UK which saw a 13.7 percent hike with 34,869 units sold. The United States marked a 19.1 rise to record sales of 25,383 vehicles in the first quarter.
Audi has already set itself lofty targets and is aiming to sell no less than 1.2 millions cars and SUVs in the year 2011. Its no secret that Audi wishes to be the number one player in the luxury car segment by 2015 though it will have to dethrone BMW – currently the largest manufacturer of luxury cars – to reach the spot. By that deadline, Audi aspires to reach annual sales of 1.5 million vehicles.
The first quarter report will be submitted by BMW sometime later. On April 5, Daimler’s Mercedes Benz submitted a report of 12.4 percent rise in first quarter sales to 2,80,552.
Source: autonews
