“June has confirmed that the trend for Audi in all regions around the world is developing positively,” says Dietmar Voggenreiter, Board member for Sales and Marketing at AUDI AG. “Following a difficult first six months of the year, we expect a stronger second half of the year in light of the current order situation. Furthermore, we will herald the start of our wide-ranging prestige campaign in the full-size segments with the new Audi A8.”
The new edition of the Audi flagship will celebrate its world premiere on July 11 at the Audi Summit in Barcelona and will be available in the first markets toward the end of the year. Shortly after the market launch of the A8, Audi will be renewing other full-size models. In addition, the company will substantially expand its presence in the top segments of the premium market over the next few years – beginning in 2018 with the all-electric powered
Audi e-tron and the Audi Q8.
With regard to last month’s sales balance, North America provided the strongest momentum. In Canada (+24.3% to 3,857 cars), Audi once again achieved strong double-digit growth, while in the United States the company increased sales for the 78th month in a row: up 5.3 percent to 19,416 customers for Audi of America. In the first half of the year, the premium manufacturer increased its U.S. sales in a declining overall market by 6.2 percent to 102,971 customers. As such, Audi exceeded for the first time the 100,000 customer mark in the United States within the first six months, selling more automobiles over this period than in the whole of 2010. Back then, Audi’s annual sales in the United States totaled 101,629 units. In addition to the full-size SUV Q7 (+13.5% to 16,732 cars), strong demand for the Audi A4 (+18.4% to 18,652 cars) contributed to the successful U.S. sales balance for the first six months of 2017.
In Germany, sales of the A4 also increased substantially in the first six months: 36,786 automobiles sold reflect additional gains of 18.6 percent for the market leader in its premium segment. Across all models, Audi sales in the German domestic market expanded slightly by 0.9 percent in the first half of the year, setting a new all-time high of 167,620 units. In June, 28,323 customers represented an increase of 1.1 percent. Among the other European core markets, the United Kingdom (+4.7% to 15,218 cars) and Italy (+9.0% to 6,336 cars) in particular reported growth for the month. In cumulative terms, Italy also was among the European export markets with the largest volume gains in the first half of the year (+9.0% to 35,012 cars), followed by Spain: 30,274 deliveries to Spanish customers since January topped the previous year’s figure by 5.1 percent. In Western Europe as a whole, Audi sold around 75,150 cars in June, 2.6 percent more than a year ago. Around 432,850 cumulative deliveries in the region were up 1.3 percent by midyear, with the ongoing generation changeover of the Audi Q5 having a dampening effect on the sales balance. Engine variants for the new edition of the bestselling Audi SUV become successively available in the markets.
In China, sales continued to recover last month, consolidating the trend which had begun at the end of May with the agreement on the future collaboration between Audi and its local partners. With 51,900 cars delivered, the Four Rings achieved 1.7 percent growth year-on-year and the highest June sales figure in Audi history in the market. As a consequence of significant declines at the start of the year, the 254,785 cumulative deliveries by the end of June were still 12.2 percent below the 2016 reference figure. For the month of June, Audi already saw substantial growth in the full-size segment, with combined sales of the Audi A6, A7, A8 and Q7 up 15.5 percent year-on-year. The Q7 e-tron 2.0 TFSI quattro*, a full-size SUV with plug-in hybrid drive, supplemented the Audi portfolio in the Chinese top segment last month.
