Audi Reports Record Sales Twice In A Row Amid Severe Winters

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Mar 10, 2015

Volkswagen’s (VLKAY, Financial) luxury car division, Audi, has been performing very well amid the heavy snowfall that did keep several U.S. car buyers indoors during the severe winters. The sales has peaked both in January and February this year in the U.S. and sources have confirmed that Audi has even surpassed its German rival, Mercedes Benz in terms of sales volume for both months in a row. Let’s quickly get into the shared facts to decipher how Audi was able to hit record sales twice in a row. Here’s the total story.

The positive sales factor amid lingering harsh winters

Though snowfall did affect the sales of several auto makers in the U.S. in the past two months which includes the top automakers such as Ford (F, Financial) and General Motors (GM, Financial), Audi was able to create its own sales market even in the presence of environmental headwinds. So, the question arises as to how the luxury car maker was able to post extraordinary sales in the past two months. Thanks to the refurbished model lineup of Audi which aided in pulling its sales through the severe winters that hit the U.S. in the last two months. Remarkably, besides the U.S., the other two geographies where Audi’s sales peaked were in Europe and in China.

Since the introduction of the revamped A1 compact and the Q3 SUV in Europe by the Ingolstadt based auto maker in the past month, its sales chart has touched a new peak. With the launch of the new generation of its top-selling models such as the A4 model and the flagship Q7 SUV by the later part of the year, this sales momentum is expected to gain the impetus to keep moving in the positive direction. Also there has been a huge demand being felt in the U.S. for the new generation A3 compact series and the revamped A6 saloon which has helped in posting better sales for Audi in the past two months at a stretch.

The eye-popping sales numbers

Sales in February rose about 4.2% to 122,550 luxury vehicles and SUVs, on a global basis as per Reuters. Globally Audi’s last two months sales grew 7.4% on a combined basis to reach a record of 260,250 vehicles. The management stated that such improvement in sales was attributed to the strong demand for the revamped vehicles felt in China, Germany and the U.S. – the three main geographies where Audi sells most of its models almost every year.

On the other hand, Daimler (DDAIF, Financial) posted the February deliveries of its Mercedes Benz division last week that stood at 120,270 global vehicles sold in the last month. This marked a 14.6% improvement in February sales on a year-over-year basis, while the total sales of Mercedes Benz for the past two months on a combined basis came to 246,135 sold vehicles globally.

Hence this year, Audi did beat its immediate rival by selling around 14,115 vehicles more globally for January and February combined, and now all eyes are set to find out the sales figures of the luxury sales champion BMW (BAMXY, Financial) which is expected to report its February deliveries sometime this week.

Looking ahead

While the luxury division of Volkswagen has been able to keep its sales graph moving higher amid the severe winters, all eyes are waiting for the annual results of Audi which is likely to be published on March 10. Let’s stay tuned for the numbers which will give further information on Audi’s performance in the last few months.