“The first half of the year was clearly better than we had expected,” said Audi’s sales chief Peter Schwarzenbauer. Audi delivered more than 652,950 cars worldwide in the first six months of the year, an increase of 17.7 percent on the same period in 2010, and a new record in the annals of Audi. 
Audi’s results definitely are not caused by channel-stuffing. Quite the opposite is true. Audi cannot keep up with demand. According to the German magazine Focus, the average waiting time for an Audi stands at 5.3 months. The wait for a Q7 is 10 months. By comparison, a new S-Class Mercedes can be in a German driveway three to seven weeks after the order has been placed. For all intents and purposes, Audi’s order books are filled for the rest of the year.
With that Book-to-Bill ratio, Audi should be able to maintain its current growth of 17 percent witout breaking a sweat. Which would mean somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.3 million Audis sold globally by year’s end. Sales will also be driven by new volume models, such as the Audi Q3, and the A6 Avant. Higher sales are also expected from red-hot China. The plant in Changchun had been capacity constrained. The plant has just added 50 percent more capacity, good for another 100,000 Audis, in addition to the 200,000 possible before. Looking at the grid above, one will conclude that Audi will need more capacity in China. Of the 140,699 units sold in China in the first 6 months, 113,396 were made in China.
However BMW has outsold Audi with 689,861 units delivered in the first six months of the year, and a growth of 17.8 percent, as Automotive News [sub] reports. Mercedes came in third with 610,531 units in the first half, for a sedate growth of 9.7 percent.It could turn into a neck-on-neck race between the two Bavarian brands, BMW and Audi.
1.3 million units by the end of the year? Well, I guess Audi, like BMW and Mercedes, is becoming more and more a volume manufacturer; not that there is anything wrong with that, at least from a global perspective.
Well, I guess Audi, like BMW and Mercedes, is becoming more and more a volume manufacturer
I would all hinge on if they are chasing volume by tarnishing the brand. If they are (think Cimarron) then that would be a problem. If they are just increasing volume with better product and the new found ability to sell to the Chinese upper-middle class – that’s an entirely different issue.
Anecdotal evidence can be misleading, but in this case supports the statistics. In the tony suburb of NYC that I inhabit, Audis are the automotive fashion du jour, and seem to have replaced mostly BMWs. Mercedes seems to be holding their own or gaining somewhat, but Audis are king. Even their SUV’s are rampant.
From the drivers I’ve seen, I think that both Audi and M-B appeal to both sexes (in terms of both total line and individual vehicles), but that BMW’s appeal is predominantly male (with the 3 series convertible having the most female “converts” (you see what I did there.)) In this town, many homes (and most of the new ones) have 3-car garages, and that’s a lot of volume for Audi and M-B, and a missed opportunity for the Bavarians.
Here in San Diego, 328s and 335s are chick cars of the Volkswagen Rabbit Convertible order, irrespective of body style. The cars’ bodies that is.
Audis definitely have a higher female driver percentage than BMW in Seattle or Portland, with the exception of the convertible models, both of which heavily skew towards females driving.
Plus there seem to be more new A4s on the road than 3-series BMWs around here.
Audi is one of the few luxury brands that offer truly beautiful cars. Not a single car they produce is unattractive.The masterful exterior details and interior quality reinforces that your money was well spent, and that the only next step-up would be a Bentley. Add in great performance and Quattro, and that’s why they have a constant string of homeruns. Think about it, Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, Infiniti, Cadillac and Lincoln appear to be hunting for some sort of visual brand language, or just relevancy. In the Hamptons on Long Island, Audis used to be a rarity. But today, there are nearly as many Audis as there are Mercedes and BMWs.
The A5 is an eyesore. It looks like it needs a Starsky and Hutch stripe to match the Coke bottle Ford Torino fender lines. Audi hasn’t exactly moved past the whole ‘attempting to swallow a Trane Heat Pump’ facial deformation yet either. Oh well. I guess some of us don’t equate ‘built to meet rapper tastes’ with masterful detailing.
Interesting viewpoint. No design is going to appeal to everyone. Most design critiques consider the A5/S5 to be one of the most beautiful cars on the market today. I really don’t see rapper-types flocking to it like they do with some other brands.
The A5 is an eyesore.
I honestly think the A5 is the best looking car for sale in America, now or in the last 20 years.
What do you consider a good looking car?
“I really don’t see rapper-types flocking to it like they do with some other brands.”
Sorry, my post wasn’t clear. I meant Bentleys are designed to appeal to the worst of new money, not the A5. The Q7 is attracting flotsam though, judging by the wheels I’ve seen on them.
Yikes, CJinSD. Cars are subjective, but I think that the A5/S5 is an absolutely wonderful looking vehicle.
Man, I thought I had weird tastes in car styles! The A5 an “eye sore”…… I think it’s flat out gorgeous. And I’m lost enough to think the Crosstour looks pretty cool….
As pretty as they are, I just can’t get used to driving Audis. From the handling feel to something as nitpicky as the way you adjust your cruise control speed they just feel awkward, boring and heavy.
@stuki, is your issue with the German-style cruise control stalk? Do you prefer steering-wheel mounted cruise control buttons instead? (The idea behind the stalks is that you don’t need to take your hands off the steering wheel in order to operate the cruise control.)
To me, the A5 is one of the best looking coupes on the market.
I daresay it looks far better than anything Honda or Acura make.
I also think the A5 is a great looking car. It looks better in person than in photographs. I’m not sold on the A7 yet from the photos I’ve seen, but I’ll reserve final judgement for after seeing one in the wild. As it is, the A7 reminds me too much of the new Jag XJ, which was probably the biggest step backwards in recent automotive history when it comes to the relative beauty of the replacement model to the replaced.
I think that the key to Audi’s success is that it has better looking vehicles than Mercedes or BMW. In every vehicle category that they compete, the Audi wins in my opinion. And this coming from a BMW fan.
I agree that they sell because they’re better looking than current BMWs or Mercedes. I just think there is a chasm between better looking than a current BMW or Mercedes and good looking. I loved the way surface tension BMWs looked, and I liked the looks of most Mercedes well into the ’90s. I even liked the looks of Audis until the great defacing.
Maybe the LASIK surgery affected my perception, but boy I really am missing the boat on Audi = truly beautiful cars. That’s not to say they look bad, but gorgeous? I would say they are better looking than their German bretheren for the most part. But it just looks like they took a copy machine and hit all the size options. And the A5 is good looking, but not much better than a 3 series coupe to me. But this is all IMHO. I’m targeting a SLK55 as my next (realistic) car purchase, obviously I have no idea about style?
meefer – style perception is very personal and, as I have just experienced, tends to change over time.
Just the other day I saw a Pontiac Aztec and was somewhat shocked to realise that I don’t hate it anymore. Not to say that I think it is beautiful but I can see certain positive aspects to it and I actually prefer its’ angularity to some of the current blobiness trend.
Anyway, my point is just that none of us need apologise for our tastes but I do wish people would be a bit less dogmatic in espousing their own opinions.
Style is subjective and there is a vehicle out there for everyone…end of!
The only automotive thing more astonishing (in my one visit to China in 2006) than the number of Audis you saw on the road was the number of Buicks.
According to Bob Lutz in his recent book Buicks were big with party officials going back as far as the 1930s (i.e., Sun Yat Sen had one). Apparently there’s a history there as an aspirational item.
I think the rest of the industry is going to be pretty shocked when Audi finally releases their lightweight prototypes into the market which will be hundreds of pounds lighter than the cars they are replacing. Lexus and the other Germans already need hybrid systems just to keep up with the A8’s fuel economy now.
Prefer Audi exterior lines to the other Germans, especially the A5. :)
Audi’s designs seem to resonate quite well in most markets globally. That is no small feat, considering that most larger brands find it necessary to tailor their designs to the tastes of specific markets.
And yes, the A5 is gorgeous, as are the A7 and the coming A6. Don’t like their blob-shaped SUVs too much though.
I really don’t know why everyone goes on about the quality of an Audi. They might be tight new, but they don’t age as well as their competition – their cars they start to rattle, clunk, bang and crash (probably since the stiff suspensions cause everything else in the car to become loose). They’re very competent and reassuring to drive (may too sterile), but at the same time stiff and characterless in their steering.
And don’t get me started on the interior. While its screwed together well, there are plenty of plastic pieces on the consoles that become loose and move after a while. The instrument gauges and cluster collects plenty of dirt, dust and any scratches show up easily because its slopes down rather than up . The instrument cluster, is hard to keep clean and scratches easily so you see this all the time (even when you use the best stuff). Dust also gets into the cluster after a while. If you notice, luxury brands have them slope up and even Japanese makers like Mazda, Hyundai etc. slope up so sun reflections, dust and dirt don’t collect avoiding more frequent cleaning and scratching looking old in no time. Come on VW/Audi. Maybe tolerable in a VW, but Audi?
I tried to be supportive, but after 3 chances, I’ve moved on.
After 3 of these cars, I’m moving on. Audi’s quality is so over-rated after you have to live with it over years. While the handling is secure, grip is strong, planted suspension, the steering lacks character. Then the stiff suspension causes the cars to loosen up and after a couple of years, you hear and feel all the rattles inside, bangs, crashes and creaks from the car’s mechanics.
I don’t see the quality in the interior either. While it’s well put together initially, doesn’t anyone notice how many plastic panels there are in the centre console and instrument cluster and how they move over the years because of the stiffness. Then there’s the downward sloping plastic on the instruments, the only so called luxury car maker to do this. It collects dirt and dust, required frequent cleaning, and scratches in no time (even using the best cleaners), Every time the sun hits it, you see all the dirt, dust and scratches. Awful! Even brands like Hyundai and Chrysler design better instrument clusters that look good for years to come.
Ditto VW, but at least its better value.
@ pg –
Are you on a trolling mission or did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed?
Goes to show, looks sell.
I love the R8 but I can’t believe that Corvette falling apart the way he said it was. Goes to show you foreign all the way!
As has been said, Audi design is compelling. Strange how their parent, VW, has gone the opposite way, and seems intent on producing wallflowers that rival, or even exceed, the latest and greatest Toyota Avalon for outward design…um…er…excellence.