MotorAuthority

Audi cracks one million annual vehicle sales for the first time

Posted Thu Jan 8 2009 5:52 AM by Viknesh Vijayenthiran

Audi’s B8 A4 remains the most important vehicle in the carmaker’s lineup

Audi has recorded sales of over one million cars in a 12 month period for the first time, and at the same time achieved its 13th record year of sales in a row. Worldwide, the carmaker’s sales increased 4.1% through 2008, with 12 new models and expansion into new markets helping to boost the numbers.

In 2008 Audi sold a total of 1,003,400 cars worldwide, up from 964,151 the year before. With the newly introduced Q5 and the new A4 family, sales in December alone increased by 17.4% over the prior year’s December. This, during one of the automotive industry’s worst periods.

In the past year, Audi has launched 12 new or upgraded models. This gives it the advantage of having the youngest model range in the premium segment. The most important introductions were the B8 A4 sedan, which was rolled out in Europe in late 2007, the Audi A4 Avant which followed in April 2008, product upgrades of the A3 and A6, and the brand-new Audi Q5.

Audi achieved growth especially in the European markets and in the Asia-Pacific region. However, in the United States, the third-largest export market for Audi, sales of 87,760 cars in 2008 amounted to a 6.1% drop from the prior year.

Audi’s next major target is to crack the 1.5 million annual vehicle sales mark but the deadline for this is 2015.

Story Tags:

• A4
• Audi
• Audi A4
• Audi AG
• Audi one million vehicle sales
• Audi Q5
• Audi record sales
• Q5

Reader Comments

• Thu Jan 8 2009 1:57 PM

  danDAN says

  wonder how they compare with MB and BMW

• Thu Jan 8 2009 7:31 PM

  justinhk2000 says

  In design, Audi triumphs over both of them. But in just the badge and name. That's where BMW and MB start taking over. And you gota remember that MB has many more models.

• Fri Jan 9 2009 8:15 AM

  danDAN says

  I'm indifferent, Audi's standard designs are good but the sport packs on BM are much better. I'd sooner take a 335sport or a 535 sport over an S line A4 or A6.
  
  MB neds to get a grip though; they ha really elegant designs last gen, the new C Class is good but the SL and the CL have gone down hill. My stepmum is holding onto her SL55 instead of getting a new 500 or 63 because she likes the way hers looks more.
  
  Audi really is the new money kid in the middle class school; BMW and Mercedes Bendz are like the prefects. They've been there a long time, they're gonna stay there.
  
  
  Only reason I was wondering about the comparable sales was because Jeremy Clarkson (from Top Gear) stated that by 2010 Audi would outsell BM 2:1 because thats what BMW was doing to Audi in the 1980's/90's