FRANKFURT (Dow Jones)--Audi AG (NSU.XE) said Wednesday that it recorded a 1.3% sales rise on the year in June to around 91,200 cars, bucking the industry trend of contracting demand for luxury vehicles amid the economic downturn.
"We will finish on target - achieving our sales forecast of 900,000 cars in 2009," Audi executive board member Peter Schwarzenbauer said in a statement, adding that the company's current order intake confirms its outlook for the full year.
Audi, the premium brand of Volkswagen AG (VOW.XE), Europe's largest automaker by sales, posted a 9.7% sales decline to around 466,000 cars in the first six months of the year.
"Since April we see that sales are stabilizing. The trough of the crisis is reached," Schwarzenbauer told reporters during a telephone conference.
He said Audi may return to its record sales level of 1 million cars reached in 2008 in two or three years' time, with annual sales of the upcoming small A1 model accounting for around 80,000 vehicles.
"We will finish on target - achieving our sales forecast of 900,000 cars in 2009," Audi executive board member Peter Schwarzenbauer said in a statement, adding that the company's current order intake confirms its outlook for the full year.
Audi, the premium brand of Volkswagen AG (VOW.XE), Europe's largest automaker by sales, posted a 9.7% sales decline to around 466,000 cars in the first six months of the year.
"Since April we see that sales are stabilizing. The trough of the crisis is reached," Schwarzenbauer told reporters during a telephone conference.
He said Audi may return to its record sales level of 1 million cars reached in 2008 in two or three years' time, with annual sales of the upcoming small A1 model accounting for around 80,000 vehicles.
