9:08 pm, October 13, 2008
AUDI sales were up in September. We repeat that. Audi sales were up.
Compared with 2007, the brand sold 16,457 cars, equating to a 1 per cent increase.
Splutter. Choke. How?
New, in-demand cars. Adopting a strategy of massively increasing the breadth and variety of its offer (and the sectors it competes in). And successfully exploting an enviable image.
Audi UK director, Jeremy Hicks, was cautiously pleased. ‘I’m obviously delighted and greatly encouraged by our achievement against the odds. My belief that great new models like the A3 Cabriolet and TT TDI would sustain our performance in September thankfully wasn’t unfounded.
‘But I’m under no illusion that we are in a very tough market. The next 12 to 18 months is undoubtedly going to be challenging, but a very fresh and fast expanding range is proving a distinct advantage to us in these turbulent times.’
Annually, Audi has broken its sales records since 2000, when it sold just over 43,000 cars in the UK. It broke the 100k mark last year and, despite the market, expects to hit six figures again this year. So far, it’s sold 84,916 cars.
A success story, then. Alas, a very rare one in the current market…
