(July 10, 2015) INGOLSTADT, Germany — Compared with the same period last year, Audi AG’s worldwide sales from January to June increased by 3.8 percent to around 902,400 cars. For the first time in the company’s history, more than 900,000 customers had already chosen the brand by mid-year.

Even though important model changes are imminent in a number of markets, sales climbed further in all world regions — particularly on the American continent where sales were up 12.4 percent. In June, worldwide deliveries of 157,450 were slightly above the level of the same month last year (+1.3%).

“So far, 2015 has been a year of challenges for us. We are meeting these challenges successfully and remain on track,” says Luca de Meo, member of the Board of Management for Sales and Marketing. “Many markets have become significantly more difficult, especially in Asia and Eastern Europe. In addition, we are preparing for new generations in key volume models and markets. These make up around 40 percent of our global sales.”

As successor to the top-selling Audi model, the new A4 will first be launched in Europe in the fourth quarter. In the full-size class, the new Q7 arrived at dealers in the first European markets in June before successively premiering in the other regions of the world.

The model changeover for the updated generation of the A6 is also still underway in some regions. Strong growth in the first half of the year was recorded by the globally available A3 family, up 35 percent to around 195,350 cars delivered. Demand for the Q3 (+7.5% to around 100,950 cars) and Q5 (+3.9% to around 126,200 cars) SUV models also continued to grow.

SUV sales showed particularly strong growth in the United States where the combined models of the Q3, Q5 and Q7 increased by 28.5 percent in the first half of the year. Across the entire lineup, the United States achieved the highest increase in sales among the ten largest Audi sales markets with growth of 11 percent to 93,615 deliveries. Audi’s dynamic pace in the region continued unabated in June with an 8.3 percent increase to 18,262 deliveries in the U.S. market and a 42.9 percent increase in sales in South America to around 2,350 units.