Audi has reported a fall in sales in China for the month of May, a development it described as part of the “current reticence to buy in the Chinese luxury segment”.
In China, the brand’s deliveries came in slightly below the 2014 figure with 47,410 units (-1.6%) in May. Since January the company has sold 226,022 cars in China – an increase of 3.7%. However, market reports from China have suggested a general cooling of demand this year in line with a slowing economy.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
However, Audi reported that May’s global sales totalled 153,850 cars, a gain of 1.2% on last year, boosted by sales in the Americas up 11.1% to 24,500 units.
The third generation Audi TT has been a strong seller this year; the model’s global sales doubled in the month of May (+96.6%). Across all models, Audi has delivered around 744,900 cars to customers since January, an increase of 4.3%.
Audi believes that it will see a sales gain with the arrival of the new Audi Q7 in the coming months. “In the upcoming months we expect to see an additional boost from the new Audi Q7. It will come to European dealerships in June,” said Luca de Meo, Audi’s sales and marketing chief.
“We are currently seeing a great many contrasting developments in the markets; the SUV boom is, however, a uniform global trend. Sporty off roaders are growing more strongly than the market in all regions,” he said.
In Western Europe, Audi managed to exceed its result from May 2014 (+1.4% to 64,900 units) and said that the new TT played an important part, with sales up by 157.8%. However, Audi voiced some concern over developments in Eastern Europe and said “there are very few signs of a reversal of the trend in Eastern Europe, where the downturn in the economy continues to be felt”.
In Russia, Audi sales fell by 37.1% in May.
