(June 7, 2013) Audi showed continued worldwide sales growth in May by handing over some 137,200 cars to customers, representing an increase of 6.4 percent compared with the prior-year month. The new A3 family and Audi SUV models in particular strengthened the company's business. From January through May, Audi sold around 640,200 cars for a year-on-year boost of 6.7 percent.

“Despite ongoing challenges in the European market, Audi increased global sales in May. Double-digit rates of growth in Asia and the Americas played a crucial role,” said Luca de Meo, member of the Board of Management for Sales at Audi. “Business for Audi is especially dynamic in the United States, where we are clearly on course to achieve our sales target of 150,000 units in 2013.”

Sales in May rose considerably in the Americas region as a whole. Some 18,000 deliveries amounted to an increase of 17.9 percent. Audi’s sales in South America rose by 29.9 percent and in North America by 16.7 percent.

Performance in the United States contributed significantly to this result with 13,228 deliveries to U.S. customers in May accounting for a rise in sales of 15 percent. Sales of the A5 were particularly strong: 1,872 units sold for a 48.1 percent jump in sales.

In April, the RS 5 Cabriolet joined the RS 5 Coupé as the A5 family’s second high-performance model at U.S. dealerships. Sporty models have proven particularly popular among Audi customers in the United States. Over the first five months of the year, S and RS models constituted 20.5 percent of Audi sales in those model lines with a high performance model on offer.

Across the entire model range, 60,571 Audi customers took delivery of their new automobile in the United States from January through May. That equated to a year-on-year increase of 15.4 percent. In total, the Q5 (pictured above) proved to be the most popular Audi model in the United States in that period. Audi of America sold 14,817 units of the SUV from January through May, for growth of 37.7 percent. The Q7 continued to be very popular as well, showing a 42.3 percent rise in sales.

Dynamic growth for the four rings was also apparent elsewhere in North America. Sales in Canada (1,940 units) grew by 17.6 percent in May; deliveries climbed by 39.8 percent in Mexico (1,060 units).

In Europe, challenging economic conditions in various markets impacted May’s delivery totals. On the Ingolstadt-based carmaker’s home continent, sales of about 65,500 vehicles accounted for a year-on-year decrease of 3.4 percent. This was particularly noticeable in France (-11.7 percent to 4,858 units) and Italy (-10.1 percent to 4,258 units).

In Germany, 23,303 cars were handed over to Audi customers, 7.9 percent less than in May 2012. With 105,830 units sold (-1.6 percent) during the first five months of 2013, Audi performed stronger than the overall market in Germany.