Audi’s 2-Millionth Confirms It’s On the Rise

Rivals such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz have been tacitly acknowledging it for a couple of years as they grudgingly give up U.S. luxury-car sales to their cross-country German rival. But in case anybody missed its rise, Audi is reminding everyone that it now has sold two million vehicles to American consumers in the 40 years it’s been sending them here.

Things are good and getting better for the Volkswagen-owned upscale brand even as the U.S. auto market overall – including the luxury segment – continues to struggle to find traction.

Audi posted record U.S. sales in the first half of this year on the strength of an ever-broadening product lineup that ranges from the wound-up TT Roadster to the new diesel-powered version of the Q7 SUV.

In fact, Audi said that it has doubled its model count in the U.S. and tripled the number of variants it offers since 2000.

Audi was able to figure out that the particular two-millionth car was the sale in late June of an A3 TDI to a customer at Keyes Audi in Van Nuys, Calif. The diesel-powered A3 happens to be the reigning 2010 Green Car of the Year, according to the Green Car Journal.

To mark its 2 millionth U.S. sale, Audi is inviting auto enthusiasts on Facebook to imagine how Audi vehicles and personal transportation will appear when the brand reaches 3 million in sales.

“The story of Audi in the U.S. is really a story written by the hundreds of thousands of people who’ve invited our brand into their lives,” said Johan de Nysschen, president of Audi of America.

Expect more Americans to do the same thing. Along with the successes of Ford and Hyundai, Audi’s rise during the Great Recession has been the brand-ascension story of the last year.

Source: brand channel

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