Audi Reports June Sales Increase

German manufacturer Audi has become the first big automotive player to post sales increase for June, in a time when most of the industry's companies are experiencing a rebound from the crisis. With total sales amounting to 91,200 vehicles, Audi registered a 1.3 percent increase over June 2008. Small, you might say, yet so was Armstrong's first step...

As you may have been expecting, the fact that the company had a record half-year in China heavily contributed to the increase in sales. Alongside it, Germany and the US were the other two driving forces behind Audi's performance.

“Our sales success particularly in difficult markets such as Western Europe and the United States shows that Audi currently presents the best choice in the premium segment – offering the freshest product range in the industry,” Peter Schwarzenbauer, Audi member of the board said in a release.

Still, the company says this is no major feat, as sales recorded until now only confirm the predictions made when the year began, and do not exceed them. Overall, Audi predicted a ten percent year-on-year downturn in vehicle deliveries. The Germans are still some 9.7 percent behind the previous year's record sales, managing to convince around 466,000 people to buy an Audi in the first six months.

“We will finish on target – achieving our sales forecast of 900,000 cars in 2009. We have been right on track over the first six months, and the current level of incoming orders serves to confirm our prognosis.” Schwarzenbauer added.

As we said, the biggest increase was recorded in China, were Audi sold 66,866 units in the six months since the beginning of the year, up 11 percent compared to the first half of 2008. June was the manufacturer's best month, with sales amounting to 13,265, up 28 percent.