Audi sold around 56,200 cars in January. As expected, sales fell short of the record figures for the same month last year due to the worldwide economic crisis (down 28.6 percent; 2008: 78,679). In comparison to its competitors, however, the Audi brand could strengthen its position. In the midst of sharply declining markets, Audi further expanded its market share in Germany as well as Western Europe and the USA in the midst of a sharply declining market.
“This year won’t be easy for anyone. At Audi, our strategy remains expansive: In the first six months alone we’ll bring six new models onto the market,” said Peter Schwarzenbauer, Member of the Board of Management for Marketing and Sales at AUDI AG. “Our young product range has been well-received in comparison with our competitors – this is proven by our growing market shares.” Some 100,000 readers of the German trade magazine auto, motor und sport judged the Audi A4, Audi A6 allroad quattro and the new Audi Q5 to be among the best cars of 2009.
The decline in sales in the last month reflects both lackluster consumer confidence and Audi’s extraordinary sales levels of the previous year. In January 2008 the new generation of the highest-volume Audi model – the A4 Sedan – was available throughout Europe for the first time. In January 2009, sales in Europe were 31.2 percent below last year’s levels across all model lines, with around 37,700 vehicles sold (2008: 54,843).
The decline in the USA to 4,722 amounted to a 26.4 percent drop (2008: 6,418). In the Asia-Pacific region, the brand with the four rings sold around 10,400 cars, 22 percent less than last year (2008: 13,314).
Audi has nonetheless succeeded in further strengthening its position within the problematic market environment. The brand’s market share in Germany rose to 7.8 percent (January 2008: 6.7 percent). In the USA, Audi’s share of the premium car market rose by 0.5 percentage points to 7.2 percent of the market. In Western Europe, the Ingolstadt-based carmaker’s market share rose to around 5 percent, according to current projections (last year: 3.9 percent).
The brand also grew in absolute numbers within some markets. Audi in Australia, for example, reported a further increase of 5.5 percent, with 1,081 units sold (2008: 1,025). And in India (109 units, up 94.6 percent) as well as in the Middle East (510 units, up 0.2 percent), more customers purchased cars from the Ingolstadt-based premium car brand than during the same month last year.
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