Audi AG global sales up 10 per cent in September 2013

New sales record for Audi in September: Around 150,300 customers chose a model with the four rings last month, a year-on-year increase of 10 per cent. The company continued to benefit from growing sales in the United States (+6.2 per cent) and double-digit
growth rates in China (+28.2 per cent). Also in Europe, Audi concluded the month of September with a positive comparison to last year (+3 per cent). Altogether, Audi AG's worldwide sales increased from January to September by 7.6 per cent to around 1,180,750 cars.

"Despite significantly more difficult conditions in many key markets, we closed the first three quarters again with stronger sales than in the same period last year. We thus continue to perform better in every region around the world than the respective overall automobile market," said Luca de Meo, Member of the Board of Management for Sales at Audi AG. "In particular, the Q3, Q5 and A3 Sportback were driving our sales."

In China, the A3 Sedan will arrive on the market next spring. In September, in particular the SUVs drew customers to Audi dealers and contributed to Audi once again achieving strong double-digit growth: up 28.2 per cent to 45,530 cars in China. The Q3 and Q5, both produced in Changchun, accounted for around 72 per cent of this sales growth. And also the A4 L, which is produced locally too, drove sales with a growth of 41.1 per cent. In total, deliveries in China have climbed across all models by 20.6 per cent to 358,213 units since January.

In the United States, Audi continued its successful run with another sales increase in September. Last month, 13,065 deliveries equated to an increase of 6.2 per cent. Once again, the Q5 performed particularly well. The demand of US customers for the popular compact SUV climbed 44.9 per cent to 3,268 cars. The Q5 has also been available as TDI clean diesel since July, and the high-performance top model of the series, the SQ5 TFSI, was just launched in August. Altogether, 114,411 customers in the United States received the keys to their Audi in the first three quarters of the year, an increase of 13.6 per cent.

In the first nine months of the year, Audi AG further strengthened its business in the other markets on the American continent, too. In Mexico, the brand with the four rings grew by 31.5 per cent from January to September. In Brazil, sales were up 29.1 per cent. In the future, the company will strengthen its position in South America considerably. Beginning in 2015, Audi will start local production in Brazil, manufacturing the A3 Sedan and the Q3 in the southern city of Sao Jose dos Pinhais.

In Europe, Audi also completed the month of September with an increase in sales. Sales climbed by 3 per cent to around 74,350 units on the carmaker's home continent. Available at European dealerships since February, the new A3 Sportback played a very important part in this sales increase.

Especially in the UK, Audi had a very successful conclusion to the traditionally strong sales month of September and was even able to exceed the high sales levels of the previous year - 26,070 cars sold represent a growth of 16.4 per cent. In September 2012, Audi sales in the UK had already climbed by 20 per cent to 22,389 units. Audi was also able to increase sales last month in Germany (+2.5 per cent) and in the Netherlands (+11.8 per cent). In contrast, the strained economic environment continued to impact sales results in many European markets. In Spain, deliveries fell by 1.4 per cent, in France by 7.3 per cent, and in Italy, the month ended with a drop of 11.7 per cent. Altogether, Audi sold around 564,800 units in Europe in the first three quarters, thus concluding the first nine months only slightly below the level of the previous year (-1.6 per cent).

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