Audi 2015 Annual Report Download - page 145

ECONOMIC REPORT
BUSINESS AND UNDERLYING SITUATION
>> 145
In Western Europe, demand for passenger cars was very positive
in the past fiscal year. With 13.2 (12.1) million new registra-
tions, the growth rate reached 9.0 percent. In addition to the
improvement in the overall economic environment, Western
European sales markets especially benefited from recovery
effects after rather weak previous years. In France and the
United Kingdom, the sales markets grew by 6.8 and 6.3 percent
respectively. The passenger car markets in Spain and Italy
expanded at the much faster rates of 20.9 and 15.5 percent
respectively. State incentives in Spain and growing replace-
ment needs in Italy boosted demand.
In Germany – the largest market for passenger cars in Western
Europe – new registrations showed a positive development
following higher demand from business customers, with
growth of 5.6 percent taking the sales volume to 3.2 (3.0)
million passenger cars.
Most passenger car markets in Central Europe enjoyed rising
sales figures in 2015. By contrast, demand for automobiles in
Eastern Europe fell in light of the poor performance of the
Russian sales market. Vehicle sales in Russia – the largest
single market in the region – slumped by –35.6 percent. As a
result of the weak economic environment in Russia, a sales
volume of only 1.5 (2.3) million vehicles overall was achieved.
In the United States, sales of passenger cars and light com-
mercial vehicles were lifted by the positive overall economic
development, attractive financing terms and low fuel prices,
and increased by 5.7 percent to 17.5 (16.5) million units.
The Brazilian passenger car market experienced a sharp decline
in demand of –27.4 percent. As a result, South America’s largest
car market only achieved a new registrations volume of 1.8
(2.5) million vehicles. This reversal was triggered principally by
the increase in Industrial Products Tax at the start of the year,
higher interest rates and the country’s poor economic situa-
tion.
The Asia-Pacific region was again one of the leading drivers of
global demand for cars with 31.3 (30.1) million newly regis-
tered passenger cars. The most influential car market was
China, which still achieved 7.7 percent growth to 19.2 (17.9)
million units despite a slowdown in demand mid-way through
the year. The market was revived by a reduction of the consumer
tax rate by half at the start of October 2015 for buyers of
vehicles with a displacement of up to 1.6 liters. The growth
rate of the Chinese car market was nevertheless slower than
the double-digit rates of expansion achieved in previous years.
The Chinese premium market that is of relevance for Audi
generally achieved lower growth than the market as a whole, but
picked up again towards the end of the year. The car market in
Japan moved in the opposite direction, with a tax increase on
sub-compact cars (up to a displacement of 660 cc) from April 1,
2015, in particular having a negative effect. Demand for pas-
senger cars there fell by –10.2 percent to 4.2 (4.7) million
units.
/INTERNATIONAL MOTORCYCLE MARKET
Worldwide demand for motorcycles in the displacement seg-
ment above 500 cc developed positively. In the established
markets, new registrations of motorcycles internationally
climbed 4.3 percent in 2015. A large number of Western Euro-
pean motorcycle markets benefited from the improved eco-
nomic situation. In Germany, new registrations of motorcycles
were up 5.2 percent. Demand in Italy also grew by a healthy
13.8 percent. In the United Kingdom and Spain, motorcycle
sales even grew by 16.0 and 26.2 percent respectively. From a
high prior-year level, the motorcycle market in the United
States contracted slightly by –0.2 percent. New registrations
of motorcycles in Japan were up by 1.1 percent.
/MANAGEMENT’S OVERALL ASSESSMENT
// COURSE OF BUSINESS
The Audi Group again continued its course of growth in the
past fiscal year. We were thus able to increase deliveries to
customers of the core brand Audi slightly and achieve 3.6 percent
growth to 1,803,246 (1,741,129) cars. We established new
delivery records in a large number of individual markets. In the
2014 Annual Report, we had assumed a significant rate of
increase and updated this to a moderate rise in deliveries to
customers for the 2015 fiscal year in the 2015 Interim Finan-
cial Report. While we were able to clearly profit from our lead-
ing market position and the economic recovery in Europe, we
responded very flexibly to weakened market demand in Asia,
especially in our largest single market China.