Audi sells over 1,000,000 cars in 2008

Audi breaks the 1,000,000 car sales barrier in 2008

Audi has really made an impression on the car market in the last decade. From the old Auto Union days (which was created by amalgamating the car makers Horch, Audi, DKW and Wanderer), it is now part of the German luxury car triumvirate – BMW, Mercedes and Audi – and considered to be the equal of the others. No mean feat.

2008 makes thirteen consecutive years of growth for Audi, and with the launch of twelve new or upgraded models during the last year, including the Audi Q5 and the R8 V10, Audi can rightly claim to have the most up to date model range in its sector.

It’s stated aim of breaking the 1,000,000 cars sold in a year seemed like an unlikely target to achieve considering the state of the car industry in the last few months, but Audi has managed to increase its sales in Europe and Asia despite the economic downturn, and has recorded a very modest drop in the U.S. But overall, it sold a remarkable 1,003,400 cars in 2008, an increase of more than 4% year on year.

Audi has got so much right in the last few years (and so little wrong) it deserves this success. It has a stylish line-up of high-quality cars, from the relatively humble A3 to the incredible R8, and offers sector leading products throughout its range.

Audi’s service standards are not what they should be (although they’re not as bad as Mercedes), but that small chink in their armour doesn’t stop people flooding to the marque. Perhaps longer service intervals means less exposure to the dealer service network, and so less frustration for customers.

Peter Schwarzenbauer of Audi said:

“We’ll continue to draw on this strength in the difficult year of 2009. We have ambitious long-term goals: We want to make Audi the most attractive premium brand world wide.We will keep up our model initiative as planned: In 2009 we’ll continue to offer our customers a succession of new models”

Which is good to hear. Audi is now the company to reckon with in the car world (especially as it consists of VW, Bugatti, Bentley, Lamborghini et al), and it deserves every success, as long as it continues to deliver world-beating cars.