Audi does it again!

AUDI AG has achieved its stated objective of selling one million cars in 2008 for the first time in its history. With about 1,003,400 cars sold worldwide, Audi increased its unit sales volume by 4.1 percent over the prior year (2007: 964,151 cars sold). With the newly introduced Audi Q5 and the successful young A4 family, sales in December increased by 17.4 percent over the prior year's December, to around 82,800 units (2007: 70,523 cars sold).

"This 13th record year in a row is a success achieved by the entire Audi team. I would like to express the gratitude of the Board of Management for your wholehearted commitment," says Rupert Stadler, Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG. "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 worldwide."

"We will keep up our model initiative as planned: In 2009 we'll continue to offer our customers a succession of new models," says Peter Schwarzenbauer, Member of the Board of Management for Marketing and Sales of AUDI AG.

In Singapore, Audi also broke sales records. The marque sold 1319 cars in 2008, representing an increase of 37% over sales figures in 2007.

Despite the economic slowdown, Audi sold a total of 145 cars in Singapore in December 2008, an increase of 81% over December 2007.

In the past year, the Ingolstadt-based firm has launched 12 new or upgraded models. This gives Audi the advantage of having the youngest model range in the premium segment. The most important introductions were the Audi A4 sedan, which was rolled out in Europe in November 2007, the Audi A4 Avant which followed in April, product upgrades of the A3 and A6, and the brand-new Audi Q5.