Audi posts record Middle East sales in February

Audi Middle East has posted its best-ever sales figures for February, building on a record-breaking January. After recording an eight percent rise in January sales, the German car maker's Middle East unit said it sold a total of 701 vehicles last month, up 17 percent on the same period last year. Notable best sellers were the Audi A8 L and Audi A6 models with cumulative 2012 sales for the A6 executive sedan up 104 percent on last year and the full-size luxury A8 witnessing a 66 percent increase. "With two record months in a row the combined figures represent our best-ever start to a year and a 12 percent increase over the same period of last year," said Audi Middle East managing director Jeff Mannering. "Naturally we are delighted by these results and we are determined to keep up the momentum while adhering to our Audi philosophy of customer delight and exceptional after sales service." Globally, Audi increased its sales in all regions of the world in February and exceeded the prior-year month by 16.6 percent in delivering 106,600 vehicles. Demand rose particularly sharply in China, where a new best figure of 31,352 units was recorded - up 65.7 percent. Audi also achieved continued double-digit growth in North America (up 10.9 percent). In Europe, an increase of 2.1 percent was achieved thanks primarily to Germany, the UK, France and the entire Eastern European region. For the year to date, worldwide sales for Audi have reached around 202,700 cars, a rise of 8.5 percent - the first time that the company has exceeded the mark of 200,000 vehicles by the end of February.