Audi 2013 Annual Report Download - page 171

ECONOMIC REPORT
PRODUCTION // DELIVERIES AND DISTRIBUTION
MANAGEMENT REPORT
168
A
/ AUDI HUNGARIA CELEBRATES 20TH ANNIVERSARY
AUDI HUNGARIA MOTOR Kft., Győr (Hungary), celebrated its
20th anniversary in 2013. In addition, series production of the
new A3 Sedan commenced there in June of the anniversary year.
In preparation for this, the plant was expanded over a period
of two years, turning it into a production facility covering the
entire process chain, complete with press shop, body shop,
paint shop and final assembly.
/ FURTHER EXPANSION AND
ANNIVERSARY IN CHINA
The joint venture FAW-Volkswagen Automotive Company, Ltd.,
Changchun (China), which includes the partners AUDI AG, FAW
Group Corporation, Changchun (China), and Volkswagen AG,
Wolfsburg, celebrated its 25th anniversary in July 2013. This
milestone also saw Audi deliver its 2,000,000th car in China –
a locally built Audi A6 L.
The joint venture FAW-Volkswagen Automotive Company, Ltd.
also opened an additional plant in the southern Chinese city of
Foshan at the turn of the year. It covers the entire production
process, from press shop and body shop to paint shop and
assembly line. Series production of the A3 Sportback and
A3 Sedan will commence there in 2014.
/ FOUNDATION STONE LAID FOR
NEW AUDI PLANT IN MEXICO
The foundation stone for the new plant in San José Chiapa
(Mexico) was laid in April 2013. The next two years will see the
construction of a new press shop, body shop, paint shop and
assembly line there. The successor generation of the Audi Q5
will then be manufactured in San José Chiapa beginning in 2016.
This move will help the Audi Group to build on its successful
path of growth in the North American market.
/ NEW PRODUCTION LOCATION IN BRAZIL
As part of our worldwide growth strategy we are building an
Audi production location in São José dos Pinhais, in the Brazilian
federal state of Paraná, to supply the local market. In creating
the new location in Brazil, we are paving the way for further
growth in South America. We will initially build the new
A3 Sedan there beginning in 2015. This will be joined a few
months later by local production of the Audi Q3.
DELIVERIES AND DISTRIBUTION
The Audi Group delivered 1,751,007 (1,634,312) cars to cus-
tomers worldwide in the 2013 fiscal year. The core brand Audi
increased its volume of deliveries by 8.3 percent to 1,575,480
(1,455,123) vehicles. The target of delivering more than 1.5
million Audi vehicles to customers worldwide that was origi-
nally envisaged for 2015 was thus easily exceeded two years
ahead of schedule.
In the home market Germany, deliveries of the Audi brand were
down on the previous year at 250,025 (263,163) cars due to a
decline in overall market demand. In other Western European
countries, 422,709 (418,646) customers chose a model with
the four rings, despite the many challenges presented by the
market environment – an increase of 1.0 percent. As a result,
we have been able to reassert our position as the premium
segment’s market leader. In the United Kingdom – our major
export market in Europe – we maintained the dynamic pattern
of growth established in recent years. 142,039 (123,640) Audi
vehicles were delivered to customers there in the past fiscal
year, a 14.9 percent increase on 2012. Conversely, we were
unable to remain entirely immune to the sharp slump in the
Italian and French markets, which was driven by the weak
business cycle.
In Central and Eastern Europe, we increased our deliveries
last year despite the contraction in car markets as a whole.
The higher totals are mainly attributable to the Russian car
market, where we pushed up deliveries of vehicles with the
four rings by 7.9 percent to 36,150 (33,512).
Demand for the Audi brand also made positive progress in the
U.S. car market. With 158,061 (139,310) deliveries to custom-
ers – up 13.5 percent – we successfully maintained the course
of qualitative growth enjoyed in recent years.
The Asia-Pacific region again expanded sharply in the period
under review. Overall, we delivered 579,083 (478,879) cars of
the Audi brand to customers there, 20.9 percent more than in
the previous year. As in recent years, China (incl. Hong Kong)
proved to be the main driver of growth. We increased our
deliveries in that market by 21.2 percent to 491,989 (405,838)
units in 2013. Audi also achieved substantial growth rates in
Japan. In 2013, we delivered 28,735 (23,930) Audi models to
customers – an increase of 20.1 percent.