Rupert Stadler – Chairman of the Board of Management of AUDI AG, next to the new Audi TTS
Ingolstadt: The Audi Group continues to pursue its strategic goals systematically. The Company delivered a strong set of figures for fiscal 2013: With around 1.575 million cars of the Audi brand delivered, the Ingolstadt carmaker achieved new record sales and reached the target that it had set itself for 2015 – more than 1.5 million deliveries – two years earlier than planned. Meanwhile the Audi Group increased its revenue to € 49.9 billion and again achieved an operating profit of more than € 5 billion. The operating return on sales for 2013 as a whole came to 10.1 percent, which is slightly above the strategic target corridor of eight to ten percent. The Company intends to maintain its growth in future, and between now and 2018 will be investing around € 22 billion in innovations and new technologies as well as in expanding its worldwide manufacturing structures. In Germany alone, this year the brand with the four rings will be taking on 1,500 new employees and offering apprenticeships to 750 young people.
Audi today presents all its key figures for the 2013 fiscal year at the Annual Press Conference, taking place at its headquarters in Ingolstadt. The Board of Management of AUDI AG also gives its outlook for 2014. In front of more than 300 international journalists, Audi boss Rupert Stadler will declare: “2013 was an extraordinary year and we also remain on course for success in 2014. The past twelve months have seen us embark on a huge globalization drive in opening new plants in Hungary and China, as well as preparing for local production operations in Mexico and Brazil. The new A3 family* is proving very popular with our customers, as are our SUV models in the Q car line.” The Company successfully maintained its product initiative. Having launched 15 new models and derivative versions in 2013, the brand with the four rings will be launching 17 new cars in 2014 alone.
Last year, Audi achieved a strong set of figures despite the overall decline in car sales in Europe: For example, the Company delivered 1,575,480 (2012: 1,455,123) cars of the Audi brand to customers worldwide – a year-on-year increase of 8.3 percent. 2013 saw the Audi Group increase its revenue to € 49.880 (2012: 48.771) billion. This represented a further increase of 2.3 percent on the previous year’s high level, despite negative exchange effects.
The high capital investments of recent years are already beginning to bear fruit. One week ago, Audi presented the new Audi TT* to the world’s public at the Geneva Motor Show. Dr. Ulrich Hackenberg, Member of the Board of Management for Technical Development at AUDI AG, describes the latest Audi in the following terms: “The third generation of the Audi TT encapsulates everything that Audi is about. Impressive sportiness, sophisticated design and pioneering efficiency.” In respect of the Company’s strategy, the development chief says: “Our goal is holistic carbon-neutral mobility based on emotional, performance-oriented models.” This explains Audi’s desire to extend its technical lead in all efficiency disciplines. In this connection, Hackenberg mentions the new A3 family*, which will be launched on the market this year with highly efficient ultra, e-tron and g-tron models. And another chapter is set to be added to the success story of the highly supercharged direct-injection engines. Audi is developing its TDI engines into sporty, high-performance power units without compromising their efficiency and low-emission credentials in any way. Meanwhile Audi has raised the power output per liter of its TFSI engines to 210 hp (155 kW). “Such figures would have been worthy of a Le Mans victory as recently as a couple of years ago,” added Ulrich Hackenberg. In his address, the development chief also praised the more than 10,000 engineers worldwide who will continue to maintain the Company’s Vorsprung durch Technik in the future.
