Audi's historic sales growth

Deliveries in August surged 14.9 percent on the same month a year ago, as Audi continued growing in all regions of the world, the German carmaker announced.

As customers bought 108,100 Audi cars last month, total sales for the past eight months of 2012 reached 961,000 vehicles, up 12.7 percent compared with the same period in 2011, the subsidiary of Germany's biggest auto maker Volkswagen said.

Growth in August was driven by strong sales figures for Audi's luxury car models as well as for the compact Q3 sports utility vehicle (SUV), and the A1 Sportback.

Audi's "best-ever" sales for a single month came about as a result of strong demand from China, where Audi was able to sell 24 percent more cars than a year ago, as well as "yet another record month" for the brand in the United States, with growth of 13 percent.

Even in crisis-hit Europe, the company sold 8.0 percent more cars than in August 2011.

Last month, Audi launched the next generation of its premium mass-market A3 model - the predecessor model of which sold 1.877 million times.

Noting that the new A3 was "arriving at just the right time," Audi Chief Executive Rupert Stadler said that the company would aim to sell "considerably more units" of the car during its lifecycle.

"New models such as the A3 and the updated Q5, will make Audi even stronger, despite the current difficult market environment," Stadler said.

uhe/pfd (dpa, Reuters)