(April 9, 2013) Audi posted its strongest first quarter in its history with worldwide deliveries reaching around 369,500 units for January through March, improving on the prior-year quarter by 6.8 percent. In this period, the automotive manufacturer achieved growth in all of its three main sales regions Europe, Asia and North America.

Unit sales in March played a major role in this respect. Audi handed over around 147,700 cars to customers, 3 percent more than one year earlier. This made the past month the strongest March ever for the Ingolstadt-based manufacturer.

“Building on the first quarter’s record deliveries, we want to continue this positive sales trend over the next months, too,” said Luca de Meo, member of the Board of Management for Sales and Marketing. “The new A3 Sportback will also contribute to this goal. It was successfully introduced in the first markets in February and we are very pleased with the response from the dealerships.”

Especially the A1 Sportback, the A4 family and the SUV models provided further boost in the first quarter of 2013. Worldwide sales of the compact SUV Q3 gained 58.2 percent year on year to around 28,550 units, the Q5 grew by 15.6 percent to some 56,350 units.

These models also strengthened the Ingolstadt carmaker’s business in the European market. Despite the challenging economic environment, Audi achieved a slight increase in deliveries in Europe compared with the first quarter of 2012. Around 187,600 cars (+0.7%) were handed over to their new owners.

In the United States, Audi ended the first quarter with a record-breaking start to the year. The success story of the previous months continued in March. Demand for Audi models climbed 14.4 percent to 13,253 cars. In total, Audi delivered 34,186 cars in the United States in the first three months, a gain of 16 percent.

Growth was particularly driven by the Q5 and Q7 SUV models, which grew by 37.3 percent and 48.4 percent respectively. The company’s flagship model also gained considerably, sales of the A8 rose by 37.3 percent in the first quarter. The model’s diesel version will be appearing in April, signaling the next step in Audi’s successful TDI drive in the U.S. The A8 TDI will be joined by diesel versions of the A6, A7 and Q5 over the course of 2013.

Further countries in the Americas enjoyed double-digit growth in first-quarter deliveries, too. In Mexico, for instance, Audi grew by 48.6 percent to 2,609 units and in Brazil by 11.1 percent to 1,157 units.

In Audi’s biggest sales market, in China, it exceeded the threshold of 100,000 units after only three months for the first time in the brand’s 25 years in that market. In the first quarter, 102,810 cars were handed over to Audi customers, a gain of 14.2 percent. In March, the rise was at 10.7 percent to 34,864 units.