October 2016: Audi of America

[William Maley]

Audi of America sets new October record on SUV strength and sedan demand

November 01, 2016 | HERNDON, Virginia

• Record sales streak extends to 70 consecutive months
• Q3 sales more than doubled in October
• A4 sedan bucks industry trend, with 33 percent gain

Audi of America said its October sales increased 0.1 percent to 17,721 deliveries. The all-new A4 and Q7 led the gains and the Q3 continued to attract new consumers to the brand.

October 2016 marks the 70th consecutive month of record sales for Audi of America. Year-to-date sales have risen 2.9 percent to 169,900, as the brand remains on pace to top last year’s record sales in advance of its largest new-product cadence over the next three years.

Sales of Audi SUV models remained steady with an 8.4 percent increase over last October and a 17 percent increase year-to-date. The A4 sedan bolstered October results, posting sales of 3,864 vehicles, countering a trend in the U.S. market away from sedans.

“We are well-positioned going into the holidays and our upcoming Season of Audi sales event,” said Mark Del Rosso, chief operating officer, Audi of America. “Thanks to the enthusiasm of our dealers and the success of our product strategy, 2016 should go down as another record year. The new A4 and Q7 are helping us win in the face of a tightening premium market and position us well for continued growth in 2017.”

The Q5 remained the brand’s volume SUV, with 3,772 vehicles sold. Sales of the Q3 SUV rose to 1,944, a 119 percent gain from last October and sales of the new Q7 rose 33 percent to 2,798.

AUDI US SNAPSHOT	--MTD--			--YTD--
Model Line	Oct '16 Actual	Oct '15 Actual	Yr/Yr % change	Oct '16 YTD  Actual	Oct '15 YTD Actual	Yr/Yr % change
A3	1,708	2,732	-37.5%	26,571	29,704	-10.5%
A4	3,864	2,896	33.4%	27,535	23,423	17.6%
A5	609	845	-27.9%	7,281	10,657	-31.7%
A6	1,429	1,740	-17.9%	15,138	18,812	-19.5%
A7	583	736	-20.8%	5,171	6,244	-17.2%
A8	354	385	-8.1%	3,305	4,202	-21.3%
allroad	312	260	20.0%	1,718	2,263	-24.1%
Q5	3,772	4,863	-22.4%	38,967	41,429	-5.9%
Q7	2,798	2,106	32.9%	24,683	16,527	49.3%
Q3	1,944	887	119.2%	16,388	10,619	54.3%
R8	61	17	258.8%	591	470	25.7%
TT	287	233	23.2%	2,552	753	238.9%
Total Audi Sales	17,721	17,700	0.1%	169,900	165,103	2.9%
Total CPO Sales	3,689	4,061	-9.2%	38,218	40,828	-6.4%

 

[A Horse With No Name]

interesting that A4 is up so much.

[smk4565]

70 consecutive months of sales gains!!!!!  Unbelievable performance by Audi!  This is the best ever sales and marketing team of all time, ever in the history of the world, bar none.

 

No doubt they were selling A4's at $10k off sticker the last week of the month or at $299 a month leases with no money down, or selling A4's to previous Jetta TDI owners that VW "bought back" their cars.  Anything to squeak out an extra 100 sales to top last year's number.

 

When you look at this brand none of these cars sell great, the A4 and Q5 do okay, because they are in the heart of the entry lux segment but others in the segment double their numbers.  The A6, A7 and A8 combined got outsold by the S-class.  True story the S-class in September and October has sold more units than the A8 all year, and the A8 is $25,000 cheaper.  Why even keep trying with the A8, it is over, you lost Audi, give up.  They could sell A8s for $49,995 and the S-class would outsell it, they could do buy an A8 get one free and count both as sales and the S-class would outsell it still.

[A Horse With No Name]

I would agree with you that Audi has a lot of models that sell in very small numbers.  VW has not actually started buying TDI vehicles back yet, but several people have parked their TDI awaiting buy back and bought another ride.

The real story here I think is that Audi will not have the image or R and D dollars going forward, and Benz lead will increase dramatically. Audi is already pulling out of LeMans 24 Hour and other motorsport, and VW is cutting their motorsport budget dramatically.

Audi is doing very well with SUV's, in part because all three mainstream Euro luxury car makers crush the Asians in terms of SUV's

But I would expect Benz to be pulling ahead in the SUV market as well as Audi is able to spend less and less on R and D and development.

VW/Audi is nowhere near the bottom/end of the TDI scandal.