Audi was able to save the year somewhat in the fourth quarter of 2020. In the last three months, the brand sold 505,583 cars, bringing the total to 1,692,773 cars. That is a decrease of 8.3 percent compared to 2019.
In percentage terms, the sales decline of Audi is almost equal to the result of BMW. The year of Audi also shows a similar pattern to that of its competitor from Munich in another respect: considerable growth can be observed in both the electric models and the sports division. Worldwide sales of the E-tron increased by 79.5 percent to 47,324 cars. Audi Sport set a new delivery record last year with 29,300 cars and a growth of 16.1 percent.
However, on Audi’s total sales, these figures are just a sip on the drink. The only market that had positive growth figures this year was China, where the number of Audis sold increased by 5.4 percent to 727,358 cars. In Europe, Audi’s largest sales market last year, sales fell by no less than 19.5 percent to 619,723 cars. That means that China has taken the lead. In the United States, Audi sold 186,620 cars in 2020, a decrease of 16.7 percent compared to 2019. Audi did not really have a top year in the Netherlands: sales fell by 20.7 percent to 12,690 cars; the lowest number for the brand since 2004.
To invest
Audi will be fully committed to electrification in the coming years. In 10 to 15 years, the brand even wants to stop using the combustion engine completely. Over the next five years, Audi will have a development budget of 35 billion euros at its disposal to take the first steps in that direction. In the coming years, this should result, among other things, in an electric flagship, which is currently going through life under the name Artemis. This year we can already expect the production version of the E-tron GT and the Q4 E-tron is also coming.