A5 helps to rev up Audi earnings

Audi AG, Volkswagen AG's luxury-car division, said profit rose 26 percent to a record last year after the company introduced the A5 Coupe and TT Roadster.

Net income increased to 1.69 billion euros from 1.34 billion euros, the Ingolstadt, Germany-based carmaker said in a statement handed out at its annual press conference yesterday. Revenue gained 7.9 percent to 33.6 billion euros.

Sales of the A5 surged to 18,553 cars in 2007 from 232 a year earlier, while deliveries of the TT Roadster jumped to 13,026 vehicles from 2,745 in 2006, Audi said yesterday.

Chief Executive Officer Rupert Stadler, who took over at the division in January 2007 when Martin Winterkorn became head of Volkswagen, aims to raise sales 56 percent from last year's figure to 1.5 million cars and sport-utility vehicles by 2015.

Audi, which competes with Bayerische Motoren Werke AG and DaimlerChrysler AG's Mercedes-Benz unit, plans to nearly double its product line to 40 models by then.

Slower economic growth in the US, the declining dollar and rising raw material prices mean "major challenges will arise once again in 2008", Chief Financial Officer Axel Strotbek said in the written text of his speech.

"Yet, we are nevertheless confident that we will continue to progress along our profitable growth path during the current fiscal year."

Best-selling model

Audi sold 964,200 vehicles in 2007, a 6.5 percent gain, with the A5 and TT leading growth. The deliveries set a record for the 12th consecutive year.

Stadler aims to sell 1 million cars this year for the first time after introducing a new version of the A4, Audi's best-selling model. The model's 2007 deliveries totaled 322,517 cars, accounting for one-third of sales.

Audi's February sales worldwide rose 2.6 percent to 71,348 vehicles on the strength of the new A4 and TT, the carmaker said yesterday. Two-month sales climbed 3.7 percent to 150,025 cars and SUVs, Esther Bahne, an Audi spokeswoman said.

"We are going to consistently follow our path of profitable growth," Stadler said in a statement yesterday.

The division accounted for more than 40 percent of group 2007 profit at Volkswagen, Europe's biggest carmaker.

The parent company's net income rose 50 percent last year to 4.12 billion euros as the new Audi models, Volkswagen-brand Golf and Skoda Fabia attracted buyers. Audi and Skoda Auto AS, Volkswagen's Czech unit, have driven group earnings in recent years.

Pretax profit at Audi, which also includes the Lamborghini SpA sports car unit, surged 50 percent to 2.92 billion euros, the carmaker said.

Volkswagen Chairman Ferdinand Piech appointed Winterkorn in place of chief executive officer Bernd Pischetsrieder last year in hopes he can replicate Audi's success at the Wolfsburg, Germany-based group.

Audi's workforce increased 2 percent in 2007 to reach a total of 53,347 employees worldwide.

Agencies

(China Daily 03/12/2008 page17)