Audi reports 110,000 deliveries worldwide in February, up 3.2 per cent

Best February in the history of the four rings - Audi AG once again surpassed its strong delivery results from the same month in the prior year, despite the model changeover of the popular A3 Sportback and a shorter sales month in China. Globally, the company delivered
around 110,000 automobiles to customers in February for a 3.2 per cent gain. The Ingolstadtbased manufacturer achieved high double-digit growth in the USA (+27.5 per cent).

Overall, Audi's global deliveries over the first two months of the year increased by 9.4 per cent to around 221,800 cars, with growth in all three of the company's large sales regions - Asia, North America and Europe.

"The year has begun very successfully for Audi considering the very difficult market situation in Europe and noticeable special effects in February," said Luca de Meo, Member of the Board of Management of Audi AG for Sales and Marketing. "We want to stay our course in upcoming months and benefit from the roll-out of the new A3 Sportback in the international markets."

For Audi, the month of February was marked by the model changeover of the strong selling A3 Sportback in many key markets. In Europe alone, two-thirds of all A3 customers have traditionally chosen the five-door version. This makes the A3 Sportback the best-selling body variant of Audi's entire model line-up in the region. Despite the changeover to the new A3 Sportback generation, Audi was still able to repeat the delivery totals of the previous February across all models in a strained European market; up 0.1 per cent to around 54,900 cars sold in February. Above all, further increasing demand for the A4 Avant and the new-generation Q5 bolstered business for the four rings on its home continent. Globally, the A1 and the Q3 showed strong gains as well; sales figures for the compact SUV at around 8,300 units sold were 41.6 per cent higher than in the same month last year.

Among the European markets, Audi attained particularly high growth rates in many Scandinavian countries in February - such as Sweden with an 18.2 per cent gain to 1,484 cars compared to February 2012 and Denmark with a 28.7 per cent increase to 655 deliveries. Switzerland (+13.2 per cent to 1,641 cars) and Russia (+20.2 per cent to 2,800 cars) also reported strong growth. In Spain, Audi also closed the month of February with a gain over the prior year, with a 3.3 per cent increase to 4,082 automobiles. In France, the company delivered 5,368 cars last month, which was 5.1 per cent fewer than in February 2012. In Italy, Audi delivered 3,622 cars (-9.5 per cent). In the difficult market environments of these two countries, the Ingolstadt-based company confirmed its leadership role in the premium segment over the first two months of the year. In its two largest European sales markets, Germany (+0.2 per cent to 19,804 cars) and United Kingdom (+7.3 per cent to 4,451 cars), Audi AG surpassed the strong sales of the same month last year.

From January to February, deliveries increased by 4.8 per cent in Germany and by 12.7 per cent in the UK. In Europe as a whole, the premium carmaker sold 4 per cent more vehicles in the first two months.

In February, the company resumed its record-setting pace in the USA as well: 10,877 delivered automobiles represent 27.5 per cent growth and set a monthly record for the 26th consecutive month. Generating especially strong customer traffic at US dealers were the SUVs with the four rings. The new generation of the Q5 showed 57 per cent growth compared to the same month in the prior year, and Q7 sales climbed by 146.6 per cent. Ever popular among US drivers are the especially sporty models of the full-size sedans offered by Audi. The new editions of the S6 and the S8 that launched last fall contributed significantly to sustained strong growth of the A6 family (+40.9 per cent) and the A8 (+22.3 per cent) in the USA in February.

In China, the second home market of the Ingolstadt-based company, last month was strongly influenced by New Year celebrations lasting one week. While the holiday fell in January last year, this year there were correspondingly fewer sales days in the already short month of February when compared with the same period in 2012. Nonetheless, Audi surpassed the 30,000 unit mark and recorded 30,268 deliveries, which represented a 3.5 per cent dip compared to February 2012. Audi's cumulative sales in China since the start of the year amounted to 67,946 cars, which is 16 per cent more than for the same period in the previous year.

In many other markets of the Asia-Pacific region, Audi sales rose sharply also in February  in Japan, for example, where the A1 Sportback and the Q3 in particular helped to increase Audi sales by 42.4 per cent to 2,290 units. Audi also recorded double-digit gains in South Korea (+34.3 per cent to 1,352 cars), Australia (+18.2 per cent to 1,418 cars) and India (+29.2 per cent to 775 cars).

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