Sales buck the trend, and there's more to come says Audi
Author: David Miles
Published: 10 October 2008
Audi was one of only three manufacturers to show a sales increase in the UK’s new registration plate month of September. Jaguar and Smart were the others.
The September new car market finished with a fall of 21.2% to just 330,295 units, the lowest level since 1999 when the twice-yearly plate change system was introduced. In reality the ‘real’ market was much lower with sales down as much as 35% at one stage and reportedly boosted by end of month the pre-registration of unsold vehicles by dealers and some manufacturers.
Year to date the market is down by 7.5% and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders have just revised their forecast down to 2.26 million new cars sales this year from 2.4 million in 2007. Next year the SMMT forecasts a further drop to 2.16 million.
But despite the recent cut in interest rates industry analysts say the fall could continue further as customers struggle with current loans and mortgages, higher taxation, increased home energy prices and the cost of Christmas looming on the horizon.
Audi UK said this week their September sales performance of a 1.38% increase to 16,355 new car sales was the ‘real deal’. Their 2.49% year on year sales improvement with 83,930 new cars sold has kept them on target to reach their l7th successive record year in the UK with over 100,000 sales and a record share of the UK’s new car market. Currently it is 4.22%.
Jon Zammett Head of PR for Audi UK said this week at the company’s range review for the motoring media,”We have 25,000 advance UK orders for our cars which should ensure we reach our 100,000 sales target for the year and gives us a significant start for sales in 2009. We have no need to become involved in artificially boosting our monthly sales figures.”
He added, “80% of our cars are ‘customer tagged’ or built to order so our latitude to do things with registration numbers is limited. We do no Motability business and we have reduced daily rental activities. We take the view that maintaining profitability is important for us and our dealers and retaining high residual values for our cars is vital for customer retention and brand value.
He added that with the introduction of additional new models and variants with revised engines and transmission it was quite possible that Audi could overhaul BMW for new vehicle sales in the UK in 2009 to become the number one German premium brand.
Audi’s UK flagship model the R8 achieved 150 sales in September out of the 800 units they have for sale for the whole of 2008. They also have a further 250 paid deposits and currently the waiting time for delivery of an R8 in the UK is eight months.
The Audi range will be further boosted with the arrival in December of the new Q5 mid-sized 4x4 SUV which uses the same platform as their A4/A5 models. Initial engine options will be a 2.0-litre FSI direct injection 211bhp petrol unit, a 2.0-litre TDI 170bhp turbodiesel engine and a 240bhp 3.0-litre TDI unit. A DSG type twin-clutch transmission will also be available.
Zammet said they expected the Q5 to achieve 7,200 sales in the UK next year despite the shrinking SUV/4x4 domestic market in the UK which was down by 42% in September and 16.5% for the year to date.
He added there will undoubtedly be some substitutional sales when Q5 arrives with customers moving from the large Q7 SUV. They plan to reduce Q7 sales from 4,000 units this year down to 2,500 in 2010. Prices for the Q5 will start from around £30,000.
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