At the same time that many European carmakers are reporting dwindling sales, Audi is breaking one record after the other.
Not only did Audi record its best ever first quarter with 346,100 sales, an increase of 10.8 percent over last year, but also March was the best month in the company’s history with around 143,500 automobiles delivered worldwide (+14.1%).
“We kicked off 2012 very successfully and expect growth to continue in the months to come,” says Peter Schwarzenbauer, Audi board member. “Our new A3 will be rolled out from the second half of this year, and we have just introduced the new-generation A6L in China.”
Among other highlights, the VW Group’s premium brand achieved growth of 40.5 percent in China with 90,063 sales, while the country remains the most important market for the A8, accounting for more than 40 percent of global sales.
Audi sold 29,470 cars in the States in the first quarter (+18.0%), helped by the A6 that almost doubled its sales over the same period last year (+87.3 percent to 3,581 units).
The automaker also saw double-digit sales growth in other key markets in the Americas during the first quarter as sales rose by 23.3 percent in Canada, 37.3 percent in Brazil and 49.3 percent in Argentina.
In Europe, Audi recorded a drop of 0.1% in sales to 90,736 cars, fairing much better than most carmakers as the market fell 8.3% as a whole in the first quarter.
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