- Worldwide growth of around 14 percent in May
- Best first five months in company's history
- Approx. 35 percent sales growth in Australia, Germany up by 32 percent

Audi has announced another record-breaking month for vehicle sales in May 2005.

Worldwide, more than 72,000 new cars (May 2004: 63,239) were delivered to customers. This represents growth of around 14 percent.

The number of vehicles sold worldwide in the first five months of the year has consequently risen by approximately 6 percent to 342,000 (January to May 2004: 322,192).

In Australia, Audi has once again registered an extremely strong performance with growth of 34.5 percent over the same period last year. With May sales of just under 400 units, the company has now achieved a running total of 1,967 units after the first five months of 2005.

The May figure for Germany is also particularly satisfying. With vehicle sales reaching 23,100, Audi achieved a growth rate of 32 percent. The expected market share of 8 percent is at a record level. Vehicle sales in Germany went up by 9 percent to 101,100 year-to-date.

"Audi is heading for another record-breaking year. This sales achievement gives us a good basis for the new models that we will be launching in the near future, such as the Audi Q7, an utterly novel, sporty type of crossover car, and the Le Mans quattro, a thoroughbred sports car", remarked Ralph Weyler, Member of the Board of Management of AUDI AG for Marketing and Sales.

The major export markets achieving the highest growth rates in the first five months are France (18,600 units sold, up 26 percent), Spain (24,000, up 23 percent) and Great Britain (38,400, up 8 percent). In Japan, vehicle sales rose by 20 percent to 5,800 units.

Record-breaking vehicle sales were achieved in more than 25 markets worldwide including Australia.

Audi Australia’s managing director, Joerg Hofmann, remains confident that the brand will achieve its year-end total of 4,500 sales in Australia.

“We will continue to perform steadily and strongly in Australia with our clear focus on achieving our sales goals month-by-month,” Mr Hofmann said.

“In the coming months we will have more exciting new product to launch in Australia which will add to the growth in image and sales for the Audi brand.”