Automotive industry
Sales slump at Audi
Times are difficult for German car manufacturers – but VW subsidiary Audi is particularly suffering from a lack of demand.
Audi suffered a slump in sales last year. The Ingolstadt-based car manufacturer delivered a good 200,000 fewer cars from its core brand, as it announced. The weak demand is affecting all important markets. Electric mobility also went down. Audi attributes the decline to the economic conditions, intense competition and limited parts availability.
Specifically, Audi reports 1.67 million deliveries worldwide. That was almost 12 percent less than in 2023. In the home market of Germany, the decline was particularly strong at 21 percent, but North America also weakened, with a decline of 13 percent, and the most important market, China. In the latter, deliveries fell by 11 percent to 649,000 cars. Things went best in Europe outside of Germany, where deliveries only fell by 6 percent to 466,000 cars. Audi also faced headwinds when it came to electromobility: 164,000 fully electric cars are a decrease of 8 percent compared to the previous year.
However, sales director Marco Schubert indirectly gives hope for an improvement in the new year. “2024 was classified as a transition year right from the start,” he says. Although there are “strong models in the pipeline”, these will only gradually bring in volume. Audi boss Gernot Döllner emphasized that they are convinced that they will achieve their own long-term goals. However, Audi is currently not mentioning any specific sales targets.
Competitor Mercedes had already reported figures last week. The Stuttgart-based company also had to accept sales declines, although at 3 percent to 1.98 million cars for Mercedes Benz Cars – including Smart – they were milder. The situation is similar at Audi’s sister company Porsche, with a decline of three percent to 310,700 vehicles.
dpa
Source: Stern
