Audi delivered around 182,750 premium automobiles to customers in March

AUDI AG delivered around 182,750 cars to customers worldwide in March. As such, deliveries were down just 0.5 percent on the prior-year level. The company set new record-breaking figures in China and the United States. This contrasted with a fall in sales in the South America and Asia-Pacific regions due to model changeovers. Audi also closed March in positive territory in its domestic market Germany where the much sought-after Q models boosted sales alongside the market introduction of the Audi e-tron (combined electrical consumption in kWh/100 km*: 26.2 – 22.6 (WLTP); 24.6 – 23.7 (NEDC); combined CO₂ emissions in g/km: 0). Overall the first quarter was still dominated by the detrimental effects of the WLTP switchover: In the first three months of the year, Audi delivered around 447,250 cars (-3.6%) worldwide.

“Meanwhile we have homologated virtually all engine/transmission variants and are preparing for the second WLTP stage due to come into force from the fall,” says Martin Sander, Vice President Global Marketing and Sales of AUDI AG. “With the market introduction of our first all-electric volume-production car we’re powering ahead into the electric era.”

In March, the brand with the four rings delivered the Audi e-tron to the first customers in Europe. Most went to Germany (490) and Norway (621). The Scandinavian country is the electric mobility trailblazer in Europe, with electric vehicles set to account for almost 50 percent of the overall Norwegian market in 2019. The demand for the Audi e-tron is correspondingly high: Around a third of the more than 20,000 advance reservations worldwide come from Norway. Deliveries in the United States will begin in May. The model will be available in dealerships in China in the second half of the year.

In China, Audi continued to grow in the first quarter: In the first three months the number of deliveries increased by 3.3 percent to a record-breaking figure of 159,334 automobiles. In March too, Audi set a new record-breaking figure with 55,250 vehicles sold (+2.3%). Demand was particularly strong for the Audi A4, with the year-on-year increase of 7.6 percent bringing monthly sales to 14,854 units. Since the start of the year 43,004 Chinese customers decided to buy an A4 (+15.1%). Deliveries of the Audi A5 also increased sharply in the first quarter, up 48.6 percent to 4,272 units.

In the United States, deliveries in March were up 1.1 percent year-on-year to a new record-breaking figure of 20,302 cars sold. Demand for the popular Audi Q5 (6,529 cars, +19.3%) or the Audi A6 (1,963 cars, +67.6%) developed positively. Cumulative deliveries for Audi in the United States totaled 48,115 cars (-3.9%) for the first three months. The North America region closed the first quarter with around 57,450 automobiles sold (-6.5%). In March the region was down 1.4 percent (around 24,250 units).

Europe saw deliveries increase 1.5 percent in March to around 94,100 cars. In the domestic market Germany the brand with the four rings delivered 30,167 automobiles to customers last month, 6.8 percent more than in March 2018. Apart from the new Audi e-tron, the new Audi A1 (3,272 cars, +83.2%) and the new Audi Q3 (2,465 cars, +53.1%) or the Audi Q2 (2,992 cars, +54.9%) in particular drove growth in Germany. France (5,758 cars, +9.6%) and Belgium (3,512 cars, +7.0%) were two of the countries that performed well in March. The WLTP switchover continued to affect deliveries in Europe as a whole in the first quarter. Audi cumulative deliveries on the home continent totaled around 204,200 cars (-5.5%).