Audi in the UK are heading for another consecutive record year of sales ending up at around 140,000 units which for the first time ever might put them in front of BMW in the UK.
Currently they are fourth overall in the UK’s top selling car brands with Ford leading the way followed by Vauxhall and then Volkswagen.
Already Audi have sold over 120,000 new cars in the UK this year and that is already more than in the whole of 2012 which was another all time record year for them.
The increase in demand for the German premium brand is partly put down to the growing model types available, 17 to 47 different models in 12 years. But new customers to the brand are attracted, according to Audi, by the bespoke specification, fit and finish, advanced technologies, top residual values, the provenance of their quattro all wheel drive system in motorsport and the fact that famous people, including notable ‘Royals’, choose Audi models.
The latest two additions are the thunderous 4.0-litre TFSI V8 560PS (552bhp) twin-turbo petrol engined RS7 Sportback with an unrestricted top speed of 189mph, a 0 to 62mph acceleration time in just 3.9 seconds and a price tag of £83,495. It is expected that just 200 units a year of this version will be available in the UK and deliveries start in November.
The second new sports model is the RS Q3 with UK deliveries starting in January next year. Priced at £43,000 Audi expects around 350 of this high performance compact SUVs to be sold next year in this country. This is Audi’s first ever RS branded Q range of SUVs. Powered by their new award winning 2.5-litre, five-cylinder TFSI turbocharged 310PS (305bhp) petrol engine the top speed is restricted to 155mph and zero to 62mph takes 5.2 seconds.
Jon Zammett, head of Audi UK PR said not only is the RS Q3 the fastest SUV in the compact sector it is the slowest for depreciation. According to CAP Monitor, one of the industry’s future value guides, the RS Q3 is expected to retain 52% of its original value after the usual three year/60,000 mile period, an important figure which determines the monthly PCP (personal contract purchase) costs customers pay.
Out of their record sales overall Audi’s RS performance range of the RS4, RS5, RS6 and the now discontinued RS3, these niche high performance versions account for 1,100 annual UK sales but the new RS Q3 and RS7 will between them will add a significant 500 units to that total next year. The RS sports sub brand was launched 20 years ago. Audi’s quattro all wheel drive system was first introduced in 1980 and now one third of all new Audi’s sold in the UK are quattro models. Miles Better News Agency
