"We're looking back on the most successful fiscal year in the history of our company

Audi says 2007 profit rose 26 percent, sales up 3.8 percent in US

3/11/2008, 7:25 a.m. EDT By MATT MOORE
The Associated Press
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Audi AG, the luxury carmaker owned by Volkswagen, said Tuesday that its 2007 profit climbed 26 percent on a sales rise of almost 8 percent worldwide that included a 3.8 percent increase in the United States.
The company earned almost 1.7 billion euros ($2.6 billion) in 2007 compared with 1.3 billion euros in 2006. Sales rose 7.9 percent to a company record 33.6 billion euros ($51.5 billion) compared with 31.1 billion euros in 2006.
The company, which is based in Ingolstadt, did not release its fourth-quarter results.

"We're looking back on the most successful fiscal year in the history of our company: We have achieved the 12th consecutive record year for vehicle sales, and we were able to increase all of the key financial figures to new record levels," Audi chief executive Rupert Stadler said at the company's news conference.

The company said it anticipates car sales growth and reiterated its aim to sell more than 1 million this year. Last year, the company sold 964,151 cars, an increase of 6.5 percent from the 2006 figure of 905,188 cars.
Sales were up in nearly all of the company's key markets in 2007 — particularly China, where Audi sold 101,996 cars, up 24.8 percent from the 81,708 it sold in 2006.
In Western Europe, the company's sales rose 3 percent to 650,407 from 631,380 in 2006. In eastern Europe, sales were up by a third to 36,073 from 27,803 a year earlier.
In Germany, sales slipped 1.5 percent to 254,014 cars compared to 257,792 in 2006. In the United States, sales rose 3.8 percent to 93,506 from 90,116.
Lamborghini, a subsidiary of Audi, said its sales rose 15 percent with 2,406 of its expensive, handmade cars sold worldwide in 2007.
Audi's parent, Volkswagen, last month said that its 2007 net profit was up 50 percent, helped by the record sale of nearly 6.2 million cars worldwide.
The Wolfsburg-based company, Europe's biggest carmaker in terms of sales, earned 4.1 billion euros ($6.3 billion) last year compared with 2.7 billion euros in 2006. Sales rose to 108.9 billion euros ($167 billion), up almost 4 percent from the 104.8 billion euros in 2006.

Wow. But that was no wonder for me with all the new models released the past year. The RS6 and R8 are really good cars and alternatives to prior models by other manufactors.

I don't consider it all that surprising really. I consider Audi to be a low cost executive car and with the increase of the economy in the poorer countries (such as China and India) on pretty much every one worldwide it doesn't really come as a shock that more people can afford these cars.