News Bytes (10/6/2009)
Audi increases market share in Asia-Pac and Europe.
Audi continues to soar in the face of the current global recession, with the new Q5, recently launched in Malaysia, driving sales. For May 2009, about 82,800 Audis were sold world wide, a 6.1% decrease from May 2008. Nevertheless, they did increase their overall market share in Europe, going from 3.7% in May 2008 to 3.95 in May 2009.
In the US, market share also rose, as they posted the smallest decline (yes, that’s considered good news) among the premium brands. However, the best of the news came from their China operations, as they smashed sales records for the third consecutive month.
Q5 drives sales for Audi.
BMW sells more than 109,000 vehicles in May
Over in Munich, the BMW Group also posted some impressive figures, with 109,042 vehicles sold world wide. This figures, of course, includes that of MINI and Rolls-Royce. However, it should be noted that this figure still represented an 18.3% decline from the previous year.
Out of the 109,042 cars sold last month, 90,643 wore BMW badges, with the new Z4 raking up 2,365 sales in its first month. MINI, meanwhile, raked up 18,348 sales worldwide (down 19.1% from last year), with Malaysia mentioned as one of the countries where sales actually grew for the sub-brand.
Z4 off to a strong start.
Merc posts increased sales in Germany.
With all the good news coming from Munich and Ingolstadt, Mercedes couldn’t resist in posting their share of the good news as well, as they recorded an 11% increase in sales back home. Worldwide sales declined by 12% from May 2008, as the Mercedes-Benz, AMG, smart and Maybach brands all combined to deliver 97,300 sales worldwide, compared to 111,100 for May 2008.
The new W212 E-class has been very well-received in Germany, being the market leader back in their homeland, and contributing to their increase in sales. Also well-received is new S400 HYBRID, which is accounting for 15% of S-class sales.
E-class once again the market leader in Germany.
What Car? Green Car Awards 2009
Ok, don’t be confused. For those of you who don’t know, this is refering to the Green Car Awards 2009 organised by the British auto magazine What Car? (name complete with question mark). Get it? Good. The winners are:
Supermini: Fiat 500 Start&Stop
Price: £9700 CO2: 113g/km Average economy: 58.9 mpg
Small family car: Volvo S40 1.6D DRIVe S
Price: £17,495 CO2: 104g/km Average economy: 72.4mpg
Family car: Toyota Avensis 2.0 D-4D T2
Price: £17,545 CO2: 135g/km Average economy 55.4 mpg
Executive car: BMW 318d ES
Price: £24, 235 CO2: 123g/km Average economy 60.1 mpg
MPV: Citroën Grand C4 Picasso 1.6 HDi SX EGS
Price: £19,095 CO2: 140g/km Average economy 53.3 mpg
SUV: Lexus RX450h SE-L
Price: £50,460 CO2: 148g/km Average economy 44.8 mpg
Sports car: Mini Cooper S
Price: £16,575 CO2: 149g/km Average economy 46.6 mpg
Luxury car: Audi A8 2.8 V6 FSI SE
Price: £49,970 CO2: 199g/km Average economy 34.0 mpg
Technology: Vauxhall Ampera
Editors Award: Tesla
Overall Winner: Volvo S40 1.6D DRIVe S
The winning car: Volvo S40 1.6D DRIVe S
New Ford Escape coming soon to Malaysia
Ford is set to unveil the facelifted Escape for our shores this week. Autoworld will be bringing you the latest details as soon as we get them. Stay tuned for this one.
