Audi seems unable to put a foot wrong lately.
Year-over-year sales for the first half of 2012 were up in most countries, giving credence to this weekend's assertion from the CEO that Audi will top the list of premium car brands sold worldwide no later than 2020 (it already tops the European premium market).
In an article with a German newspaper on Saturday (as reported by Reuters), CEO Rupert Stadler said, "By 2020 at the latest. It is not about overtaking BMW tomorrow or the day after, but to seize and secure the top position."
According to Audi AG, the company sold 733,000 cars throughout the globe in the first half of the year, with 133,050 selling in June alone. This is a 12.3 percent increase over the same period last year, and a 13.1 percent increase over the same month.
In North America, Audi experienced the best sales month in its history, with an increase of 26 percent over last year. June saw an increase of 20.4 percent in China; while Germans stepped up their loyalty to their home brand, with a buying increase of 14.6 percent.
"Despite a noticeable headwind in the Southern European markets, where Audi performs better than the total market, the brand is growing in all world regions. As a result, we are clearly on course to achieve our target of 1.4 million deliveries by year's end," Stadler said in a statement.
"We want to continue this growth path in the second half of the year, when overall sales are traditionally not as strong," said Peter Schwarzenbauer, Audi's sales chief. "The new generation of the Q5 will also contribute as well as the new A3, which is especially important for Europe."
Europeans purchased 393,350 Audis from January to June. "While the Western European car market is currently down to its 1994 level, Audi's sales volume in the first half of the year has more than doubled since then," the company said in a statement. " As a result, Audi's market share in Western Europe reached a record level of about 5.7 percent during the first half of 2012."
Audi has seen sales climb this year in Germany (by 7.3 percent), the UK (Audi's second biggest European market, after Germany; by 4.5 percent), the Netherlands (by 30.4 percent), Austria (11.8 percent), and Switzerland (6.5, percent).
Audi improved its sales in Eastern Europe. The company cites the entire region as an increasingly important market, in particular Russia, where sales increased 40.9 percent this year to 16,563 cars.
Sales figures remained stable in France, but declined in Italy and Spain by 18.7 and 9.9 percent, respectively.
US Audi sales increased 16.5 to 65,158 vehicles in the first six months of the year, with the Q5 and A7 Sportback models proving especially popular. Sales rose 14 percent to 10,054 cars in Canada, and 6 percent to 3,862 cars in Mexico.
Audi sales in China increased by 37.8 percent, or 193,871 cars, in the first half of the year; with the Q5, A4, and A6L proving especially popular. Japanese sales rose 18.6 percent, or 11,961 vehicles; while South Korean sales rose 50.2 percent (7,196 vehicles), and Indian sales rose 42.8 percent (4,000 vehicles). Indian sales increased 76 percent in June, thanks largely to the release of the Q3 in that country.
The Indian market is perhaps typical of Audi's current position in the world. According to an April article in the Times of India, Audi has overtaken Mercedes in the country's premium market, but still lags behind BMW, which knocked Mercedes out of first place in 2009.
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