It was once almost unthinkable that diesel models could out-sell their petrol counterparts – but that’s exactly what is happening with the Audi brand.
The German carmaker has reported that diesels accounted for nearly 53 per cent of vehicles sold in the Audi A3 line and 43 per cent of the Q7 line during 2010. Sales of the Audi A3 reached 6,558 units in 2010, an increase of 69.3 per cent over the course of the year; while sales of the Q7 rose by 9.3 per cent to 7,976 units.
It was actually a record breaking year for Audi in the US, with sales of 101,629 vehicles – that breaks the previous highest total of 93,506 vehicles set back in 2007. The strong sales were emphasised in December when the company reported 10,546 vehicles sold, a 16.8 per cent increase on the previous year. Indeed the overall total for the year was up 23 per cent compared to 2009.
Meanwhile, Audi’s cousin Volkswagen of America reported a strong 2010 too with sales up 20 per cent to 256,830 units. December sales for Volkswagen were up by 17.1 per cent to 23,867 units.
Overall, 22 per cent of Volkswagen models sold were diesels, with diesels making up 56 per cent of Golf models and 35 per cent of the new Touareg models.
