Audi leads the premium sales race

Globally it has already surpassed 2011's record of 1,302,659 deliveries in the 11th month of this year, having already delivered 42,091 units more with another month to report.

The brand's strong growth spanned all regions of the world: China remains Audi's biggest single market, having already delivered 370,559 vehicles from January to November. Amid difficult market conditions Audi's sales total for Europe is up 3.5 percent for the period January through November, having delivered 693,850 units. The brand also achieved a growth rate of 24.4% (124,469 units) in the United States, surpassing the UK to become the third largest market for Audi.

The 'Q' factor

Worldwide sales growth for Audi in November was fuelled by the brand's SUV models. Alongside the Q3, Q5 and Q7, the new A3 three-door version attracted extra customers to dealerships: The compact model, which went on sale in its first markets at the end of August, improved on its predecessor's delivery total for November 2011 by almost half.

In South Africa product introductions and innovations were kicked off early in the year with the introduction of the face-lifted Audi A5 range, followed by the face-lifted Audi A4 range in February. April saw the introduction of the highly-anticipated Audi Q3 and the four-door Audi A1 Sportback. The third quarter of 2012 represented the "sporty" value of the brand with the introduction of the potent Audi S6, S7 Sportback and flagship S8. The last quarter of the year saw the introduction of the new Audi A3.

And now the 'R' factor... and more

"We are very pleased with our 2012 sales performance this far and plan to end the year with a new record volume in South Africa," said Ryan Searle, Head of Audi South Africa. "We posted an increase in sales across all our model lines with the Audi A4 leading the charge, which remains the number one selling vehicle year-to-date with 5 095 units sold."

In 2013 Audi will introduce a number of new and upgraded vehicles including the Audi A4 Allroad, the RS5 Cabriolet, Audi R8 and the Audi A3 Sportback as well as a range of new RS variants including the Audi RS4 Avant, RS 5 Coupé and Cabriolet, TT RS Coupé and Cabriolet, as well as the introduction of the RS7 Sportback and RS Q3 at the end of 2013.