WORLDWIDE SALES - Audi continues to buck the trend within the Volkswagen Group, with increased sales.

• Around 126,500 deliveries worldwide in February – up 3.3 percent
• Sales chief Dietmar Voggenreiter: “Audi’s momentum in Europe shows that our model initiative is paying off”
• New Audi A4 set for U.S. launch in spring

AUDI AG extended its successful start to the year in February: worldwide deliveries increased by 3.3 percent year-on-year to around 126,500 cars. The company once again achieved high growth in Europe: up 8.1 percent to around 65,150 units. Here the new Audi A4 is already in dealerships. Global sales of the mid-size model increased by 5.3 percent to around 22,650 units in February. 

Across the entire portfolio of the four rings, sales since the start of the year total around 269,650 cars, an increase of 3.6 percent compared with 2015.

“Audi’s substantial growth in Europe shows that our model initiative is paying off. We have already received more than 130,000 orders for the new A4 alone,” says Dietmar Voggenreiter, Member of the Board of Management for Sales and Marketing at AUDI AG. “Moreover, we will further strengthen our position in the growing SUV market with three additional models in 2016: the Audi Q2, the Q7 e-tron* and the SQ7*.”

The Q7 e-tron diesel plug-in hybrid is set to enter the showrooms of European dealers this summer, along with the SQ7 as a highly sporty full-size SUV. The new city SUV, the Audi Q2, is poised to follow from the fourth quarter. Global demand for Audi’s current SUV range rose by 12.5 percent to around 37,900 deliveries in February.

For Audi as a whole, business in the past month developed very positively in all of its large European core markets. In addition to the new A4, the top segment of Audi’s full-size models provided a further boost: the Audi A6, A7, Q7 and A8 jointly accounted for around 10,900 units, an 11.0 percent increase on the home continent of the four rings. 

Across all models, Germany reported growth of 11.8 percent to 5,355 cars), France (+9.4% to 5,262 cars), Italy (+12.1% to 4,715 cars) and Spain (+6.9% to 4,619 cars) significantly exceeded sales in the same month last year. 

Cumulative total Audi sales in Europe amount to around 125,050 units since the turn of the year, 7.3 percent more than one year ago.

Audi dealers in the United States are currently preparing for the U.S. launch of the new A4 in spring. In February, Audi of America increased its overall sales by 2.3 percent to 11,718 cars. In Canada, the new Q7 has been recently launched on the market and contributed to a positive monthly sales total for Audi in February (+18.9% to 1,542 cars). 

Double-digit growth also in Mexico (+15.6% to 1,208 cars) helped Audi make further progress in the North America region in February, driving up sales since January by 4.9 percent to around 14,450 cars sold.

In China, 34,152 customers opted for a new Audi in the traditionally lower sales month of the Chinese New Year festivities. This corresponds to an increase of 1.3 percent compared with the previous February all-time high of last year. Audi has recently started to introduce a broad-based generation changeover applying to large parts of its Chinese model range. 

Meanwhile, the brand’s sales in China increased by 4.2 percent to 88,554 units in the first two months of the year. In February, Australia achieved the highest growth among the markets in the Asia-Pacific region: fueled by the SUVs with the four rings, which are particularly popular down under, Audi Australia saw sales increase by 18.0 percent to 2,006 cars in February.

After two months, Audi sales in all of its three core regions of Europe, Asia-Pacific and the Americas exceed the respective figures from the same period last year.

Sales for AUDI AG	In February			Cumulative
	2016	2015	Change from 2015	2016	2015	Change from 2015
World	126,500	122,513	+3.3%	269,650	260,215	+3.6%
Europe	65,150	60,251	+8.1%	125,050	116,512	+7.3%
- Germany	28,507	25,502	+11.8%	50,340	45,306	+11.1%
- UK	5,355	4,990	+7.3%	17,301	16,643	+4.0%
- France	5,262	4,808	+9.4%	9,487	8,906	+6.5%
- Italy	4,715	4,206	+12.1%	8,970	8,078	+11.0%
- Spain	4,619	4,320	+6.9%	8,874	7,831	+13.3%
USA	11,718	11,455	+2.3%	23,568	22,996	+2.5%
Mexico	1,208	1,045	+15.6%	2,386	2,118	+12.7%
Brazil	1,326	1,223	+8.4%	2,710	2,554	+6.1%
China (incl. Hong Kong)	34,152	33,712	+1.3%	88,554	84,959	+4.2%