AUDI AG delivered around 151,900 premium automobiles to customers worldwide in May. As such, deliveries were down 5.4 percent year-on-year. In Western Europe, the company closed the month over last year (+1.5%); the increase in demand in the domestic market Germany (+3.5%) and in France (+12.2%) made a positive contribution. In China (-7.4%) and North America (-5.7%) the model changeovers of important high-volume models continued to have a detrimental effect on deliveries. In the first five months the Four Rings sold 5.8 percent less than in the same period in 2018.
“In light of the positive feedback to our model initiative, we are confident and expect to see a boost in deliveries particularly in the second half of the year,” says Martin Sander, Vice President Global Marketing and Sales of AUDI AG. “Customers in Europe have recently been able to order the new and even sportier Audi A4 models and the S4, S5, S6 and S7 models with a TDI engine. Orders are now being accepted for the Audi Q5 55 TFSI e* as first car of our plug-in-offensive.”
In Western Europe, Audi sold around 68,500 cars in May, coming above the prior-year level (+1.5%). Among the large markets in the region, Germany (+3.5% to 26,457 cars) and France (+12.2% to 5,347 cars) in particular saw deliveries grow compared with the same month in 2018. Demand fell in the UK with 12,641 units sold (-7.8%).
The interest for the new Audi Q3 continues apace in Western Europe. The new generation of the compact SUV is an important growth driver. Deliveries of the Q3 rose above-average in May in countries such as Germany (+94.8% to 2,967 cars), the UK (+27.1% to 1,391 cars) or France (+160.5% to 1,430 cars). Across all models, the cumulative deliveries in the region after five months were still down 4.4 percent at around 324,200 units. The ongoing generation changeover and knock-on effects of the WLTP transition continued to dampen the sales balance.
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SOURCE: Audi
