Audi's sales in China climb 18% in the first half

On July 8, Audi announced the latest sales data, saying that it sold 140,000 vehicles worldwide in June, an increase of 5.5% year-on-year; of which China’s sales in the largest single market reached 44,000, a surge of 33.5% year-on-year, occupying The total sales volume is more than 30%.

Be thrown away by BMW in the world

In June of this year, Audi delivered global sales of 140,300 units. In June 2012, it was 133,049 units, an increase of 5.5% year-on-year. Audi said that the new Audi A3 and SUV models have become the main drivers of growth, and it is expected that the new A3 sedan, which will be launched in September, will further boost sales.

In the first half of the year, Audi sold a total of 780,500 units, compared with 733,216 units in the same period of last year, an increase of 6.4% year-on-year.

Compared with the other two German luxury car competitors BMW and Mercedes-Benz, Audi's growth rate in the first half and Mercedes-Benz, in June was lower than Mercedes-Benz, the increase in the first half and June were lower than BMW.

The global sales of the BMW brand in June reached 153,075 units, up 9.4% year-on-year, compared to 139,879 units sold in June last year. The year-on-year rate of increase in the first half of the year reached 7.7%, from 747,089 units in the same period last year to 804,248. The difference in leading Audi increased from 10,968 vehicles in the previous May to 23,748.

In June, global sales of the Mercedes-Benz brand increased by 8.3% year-on-year to 121,609 units from 121,542 units. Sales in the first half of the year increased by 6.4% from 652,924 units to 694,433 vehicles in the first half of the year.

At present, Audi and Mercedes-Benz are planning to overtake BMW by 2020 and top the global luxury car brand sales championship.

Sales in China rose by 30%

In the largest single market in China (including Hong Kong), Audi achieved sales of 44,479 units in June, compared to 33,309 units in June last year, a year-on-year increase of 33.5%. In June Audi sales in China accounted for a new high of 31.7% of global sales. Audi said that the Audi Q3, which was put into production in China since April, has helped to achieve rapid growth. In July this year, Audi will celebrate the 25th anniversary of entering the Chinese market.

In the first half of the year, Audi's total sales in China reached 228,139 units, which remains the highest-selling luxury brand in the Chinese market, compared with 193,871 units in the first half of 2012, which represents a year-on-year increase of 17.7%. The increase in the first half of the year was also the highest among Germany's top three luxury cars. In June, the increase was lower than the exceptional BMW, but it was twice as high as Mercedes.

In contrast, sales volume of BMW Group in China from 23,930 units in June surged 44.1% year-on-year to 34,481 units. The number of BMW Group's sales in China dropped by 15.0 compared to the same period of last year from 158,956 units in the first half of the year. % to 182,800 units, while the BMW brand increased by 15.7% from the 147,600 units to 170,700 units.

Sales volume of Mercedes-Benz brand in China in June increased from 16.857% to 19,549 units from 16,857 units in the first half of the year. From the first half of the year, 99,391 units sold from the same period decreased by 0.5% to 98,914 units. Including sales of the Smart compact car, which is the Mercedes-Benz Automotive Business Unit, in June from 17,985 vehicles climbed 16.6% year-on-year to 20,977 units; from the first half of the year, 108,139 units fell 0.6% year-on-year to 107,517 units.

Regional market sales

Driven by sales growth in China and other countries, Audi's Asian sales in June increased by 30.7% from 40,057 vehicles to 52,400 units in the first half of the year, from 229,034 units in the first half of the year to an increase of 18.2% to 270,800 units.

Audi sold 65,100 cars in Europe in June and 72,418 in June of last year, a 10.1% drop year-on-year. In the first half of the year, Audi Europe sold 383,700 vehicles, which was a decrease of 2.5% from the same period last year of 393,320 units.

Of which, Audi's sales volume in Germany in June fell 15.3% from the same period of last year to 22,515 units in 26,589 vehicles. In the first half of the year, cumulative sales decreased by 134% to 128,345 units from the previous year.

Audi's sales in the UK in June increased by 14.3% from 11,071 units to 12,652; the cumulative sales in the first half of the year increased by 11.9% from 66,188 units to 74,051 units.

Audi's 8.2% year-on-year increase in the US market in June increased from 12,664 to 13,706 units. In the first half of the year, cumulative sales increased by 65.158 from the previous year by 14.0% to 74,277 units.