Look at Audi’s recent financial results and you might find it hard to believe that the global economy is still in recovery from the economic crisis.

For 2010, the Ingolstadt-based car maker posted its best sales figures ever, up 15.0% to 1.09 million vehicles.

And this is already being bested for 2011, with Audi AG having reported a 22.6% jump in sales, equating to around 95,400 car deliveries worldwide in January.

In fact Audi bucked the downward trend in Europe, posting significant growth in all core European markets – most notably including a 23.7% rise in Spain despite the overall decline in the market.

‘I cannot remember a single month in my career where our complete model range was doing so well,’ Peter Schwarzenbauer of Audi told the UK’s Financial Times. ‘It is mainly Europe and the US that is driving this.’

Audi is also seeing rapid growth in Eastern Europe, with sales in Russia up by 48.4% in January.

In addition, the brand continued its successful developments of the past few months in the United States and China. In China, it sold 22,196 cars in January; an increase of 32.1%. Sales in the US rose by 20% to 7,812 cars.

As a result, Audi AG has said that it expects to see strong Q1 sales and is aiming to sell 1.2 million cars in 2011.

In line with this, production has also seen big jump over the last year – up by 23.4% compared with 2009 to a total of 1,148,791 cars – the greatest number of cars ever built in a single year in the company’s history.

To keep pace with this, Audi has said that it is embarking on its largest ever investment programme in 2011.

The carmaker plans to invest around €11.6 billion between 2011 and 2015, which will be primarily used for new products and technologies, as well as for upgrading its sites. More than €5 billion is earmarked for the German sites in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm.

‘With this investment, we are laying the foundation for sustained, profitable growth, and supporting our claim to leadership in the premium car segment,’ said Axel Strotbek, board member for Finance and Organization of Audi AG.

Around 80% of all investment – more than €9.5 billion – will be used to develop new products and future technologies such as electric and hybrid drive systems. The brand has announced that it will launch its first full hybrid this year, the Audi Q5 Hybrid, which will accompany other new model launches, such as the new A6 and the new Audi Q3, which marks Audi’s entry in to the midsize premium SUV segment.

The company is also to invest over €5 billion in its German sites in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm between 2011 and 2015. ‘In addition to our foreign sites, the German sites will also profit greatly from the Audi brand’s good worldwide prospects for growth, especially in China,’ Mr Strotbek said.

The company has also said that a decision regarding a possible Audi production site in the United States should be reached by 2015.

Strong corporate demand

Audi’s fleet sales are also seeing a strong growth in Europe and China, according to the company’s Axel Just, Manager International Fleet Sales.

‘In 2010 Audi has achieved in Europe a share of fleet sales, which is nearly every second Audi in sales,’ he says. ‘In 2010 Audi has achieved the all-time high record of 1,092,400 units worldwide and the contribution of our European markets was, with 647,600 units, about 59%.’

Within Europe, it’s Audi’s domestic market that leads the way by far. For 2010, the brand reported overall sales of nearly 227,000 units or 7.8% in Germany. Of this, a total of 108,000 units went to fleets, 11.9% in the segment.

Mr Just adds: ‘First in the ranking of export markets is the UK, where we finished 2010 with 98,800 units in registrations, or 4.9% market share and a fleet part of 62,000, or 5.8% in the relevant commercial registrations. These markets are followed by France, Italy, Belgium and Spain with similar strong fleet performance. Within the premium market Audi is number one in the fleet market in the five European top markets together.’

Commenting on the outlook for the international fleet market in general and Audi in particular, Mr Just says: ‘In Europe we expect the fleet market will recover after the crisis in 2011-2012 and especially the premium segment will have a growth. Audi is also strong in China and we expecting also there a contribution for growth from fleet sales.’

India and Brazil also hold key key fleet sales potential for the brand as well as Russia, which is now one of the top 10 countries for Audi worldwide. In 2010 the carmaker reached 18,500 units, supported also by strong fleet figures.

When asked about Audi’s USP in the fleet marketplace, Mr Just responds: ‘Audi products are requested from fleet customers because of quality, reliability, technology and design. Also the strong value position of our products together with our investments in low emissions has opened the some customers for us. Audi is very interesting for the management and for the sales organisation and therefore in all fleet segments we have strong contribution.’

Looking specifically at the fleet sales set-up, Audi has established national fleet operations linked to sales organisations across Europe, including in central and eastern markets. As such, it operates on a national basis with fleets although it does have some frame agreements with some strong multinational operating companies.

Mr Just explains: ‘For multinational operating fleet managers we are working together with Volkswagen Group Fleet International to lead the customer demands into our national fleet organisations.’

Audi is also working to expand its fleet operations elsewhere: ‘In the emerging markets as China, where Audi has been number one in the premium segment for some years, and where we reached 227,938 units last year, with a growth of +43.4% compared to 2009, we are starting up fleet operations on a very first level. Also in Japan and in USA we are not that strongly represented in fleet sales. But it is good to have still uncovered potentials.’

So which models are proving popular with fleets?

‘The TDI is the first choice in Europe with its low emissions and high output,’ comments Mr Just. ‘This is highly demanded in our main model lines, A3, A4, A5, A6 and A8, but also Q5, Q7 and nowadays the A1 which, with their low-emission levels, are frequently in fleets.

‘We are offering the A3 1.6 TDI with 99g/km CO2-emission or the new A4 2.0 TDI with 115g/km CO2 emissions, which is very ambitious. And the new lightweight A6 saloon with 137g/km CO2 emission on a V6 3.0 TDI automatic is unique in this segment. Audi is taking the challenge of environmental needs.’

But in fact, Audi says it’s not just low-emission models that fleets are also looking for but also cost-effective – and of course desirable – models.

Mr Just concludes: ‘The responsibilities of a fleet manager are very complex. So we see the trends to high quality, safety and efficient cars, which are been requested. This is been driven by the needs of the users and the responsibility of the company for the employee. On the other hand is still a strong cost pressure on the targets of the fleet managers. We try to develop our products into this needs and it seems so that we are on the right way.’