2011 Audi A8

2011 Audi A8

At a time when most automakers are struggling to make sales, and others are suffering from a spate of safety and quality recalls, Audi has managed to post a record profit and its best ever sales figures.

Audi managed to increase its revenue by 21 percent in the first six months of the current fiscal year to $22.9 billion. Meanwhile, a 61.6 percent rise in operating profit easily outstripped revenue growth, setting a new record for the first half of the year of more than $1.7 billion.

The results are on the back of sales that totaled some 554,939 cars, ensuring Audi is well on the way to selling more than a million cars this year. What’s more impressive, Audi’s latest records come after what could best be described as one of the worst period for sales in automotive history.

The biggest single export market in 2010 was again China (including Hong Kong), but results in the U.S. and Europe also show promise. Audi is confident about its prospects for the year as a whole, with total deliveries for 2010 now forecast at 1,080,000 cars. This is equivalent to growth of 13.7 percent compared with the previous year, when Audi delivered 949,729 cars, and smashes the previous record year, 2008, by almost 80,000 cars.

[Audi]