August 2013, Audi, Sales, CUVs and SUVs

"Audi For Life" (audiforlife)
09/04/2013 at 11:55 • Filed to: Audi, Sales

For those that follow me on Twitter ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ), you may have seen a couple tweets about the sales numbers that Audi USA announced for August 2013 and how the Q5 fits into things. I just wanted to elaborate a bit more.

Of the 14,005 vehicles sold in during the month of August, their three top selling lines are: the Q5 (3,845 / 27.45%), the A4 (2,804 / 20.02%) and the A6 (2,110 / 15.07%).

While crunching the numbers, I noticed that the total sales numbers of the A6, A7, A8 and the allroad lines still could not match that of the Q5 (3,824 short by 21).

Also, the Q5 outsold the A4 line (A4 and S4, but does not include the allroad) by 1,041. Keep in mind that the difference between Q5 and A4 !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! was only 187, in favor of the Q5.

As you can see, the Q5 has become Audi's top selling vehicle and kind of mirrors how the Porsche Cayenne has been a top volume seller for Porsche. Both the Q5 and the Cayenne add a good amount of money to both marque's bottom lines and also help bring in people into the showrooms.

It also goes to show how crossover/SUV crazy the American car market is; when, the combined Q5 and Q7 sales make up 38.01% of the mix.

Even though the new A3 sedan will help boost the sales at the entry-level of the marque, I wonder how much of a dent it will make against the rising sales of the crossover lines. It will also be interesting to see how quickly the American car market will pick up on the Q3 that will eventually make it over here (my guess is that it'll have to wait until it gets MQB-ized).

Sorry for the rambling novella...

For those that want to look at all of the numbers, they can be found at: !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

DISCUSSION (5)

HammerheadFistpunch > Audi For Life
09/04/2013 at 11:59

you can't not make a midsized luxury crossover right now and hope to stay relevant...its insane out there.

Party-vi > Audi For Life
09/04/2013 at 12:01

Here's a question - how does the Q7 stack up against the Cayenne, as they share the same platform.

Also, has there been a comparison test between the Q5, X3 and ML350? I've driven an ML350 and liked it (but my only comparison at the time was a 20 year old Jeep), and I would imagine an X3 with 300hp is a hoot as well.

Audi For Life > HammerheadFistpunch
09/04/2013 at 12:07

Agreed and I have a feeling that this trend has already spread across to the old continent with the Audi Q3, BMW X1, MB GLA, etc. All three may be at the upper portion of the low-end or lower portion of the mid-range models, but they aren't that much smaller than their mid-tier models.

Audi For Life > Party-vi
09/04/2013 at 12:11

The Cayenne (and the other corp cousin, the VW Touareg) have been updated a lot more than the Q7 has even since their respective introductions. For me, the Q7 feels a bit more antiquated, even though it is still relatively up to date when it comes to drivetrain and gadgets. The Q7 is in need of a major diet and will get one (rumors of 200-300kg) when the 2nd gen Q7 rears its head.

There probably have been numerous comparisons between the Q5, X3 and ML350, both by smaller outlets and by the big rags (Automobile, C&D, R&T, etc.). The Q5 fared decently against the previous generation X3, but has fallen a bit behind against the current X3. The Q5 is also in need of a bit of a diet and will get one with the MLB Evo architecture that is underpinning the Porsche Macan.

HammerheadFistpunch > Audi For Life
09/04/2013 at 12:11

to sell cars (or anything) in the old world they have to be one model smaller, so it really is the same thing as is happening here, just euro sized for convenience.