Audi has outsold market leader BMW for the month of April, for the first time in over a year on the back of persistent high demand from China, Russia and the United States, which gave a significant boost to vehicle sales.
According to the company, deliveries of Audi cars and SUVs rose 14.4 percent in April to 125,200. On the other hand, sales of BMW cars increased 7.4 percent, roughly half of Audi’s growth rate, to 121,476 cars.
Audi is also closing in the gap with BMW on year-to-date deliveries, which increased 11.7 percent to 471,300 vehicles against BMW’s 10.1 percent increase to 478,030 vehicles. Audi also added that it beat last BMW in monthly sales in January 2011.
Audi is currently competing with Mercedes-Benz, which it beat on total sales last year, to secure top spot in overall sales of luxury vehicles by 2020. The Volkswagen-owned brand aims to double deliveries to around 2 million by the end of the decade.
According to Frank Schwope, an analyst with NordLB in Hanover, Audi will continue to be BMW’s biggest rival for the next 4-5 years. Audi has a strong foothold in many lucrative markets and also benefits immensely from the resources of Volkswagen.
