• Worldwide sales to October up 10 percent on last year
• Sales in USA rise against the general trend
• Already around 3,000 customer orders for Audi Q7

Audi succeeded in matching last year’s high sales figure in October, with sales of around 65,500 vehicles world wide (October 2004: 65,471). Last year’s record figure was helped by the launch of the A3 Sportback. Worldwide sales for the first ten months have thus climbed to around 697,000 vehicles, an increase of 10 percent on the corresponding prior-year period.

At 6,659 units, the October sales volume in the USA was 9.4 percent up on the previous year (October 2004: 6,089). This compares with a 14 percent drop in the overall US market last month, the lowest figure since 1998. The Audi brand consequently sold 66,315 vehicles in the USA in the period January to October. This represents an increase of 4.6 percent on the previous year (Jan.-Oct. 2004: 63,388).

Ralph Weyler, AUDI AG Board Member for Marketing and Sales: “We expect to sell more than 820,000 vehicles this year. The Audi Q7 will be launched on European markets from mid-March 2006. Although the Audi Q7 hasn’t yet reached our dealers’ showrooms, we have already received around 3,000 orders from customers, four months before the scheduled launch date. This far exceeds our expectations.”