
The decline in sales figures at Volkswagen subsidiary Audi is taking on an alarming pace. Now strategically wrong decisions of the past are apparently taking revenge.
AI-generated summary
Audi is suffering from tough competition in China and a lack of US production.
The VW subsidiary Audi delivered almost a fifth fewer cars to its customers in the third quarter.
In total there were 314,905 vehicles from the core brand, as the Ingolstadt-based company announced on Monday.
This means a decrease of 19.7 percent compared to the same period last year.
This accelerates the downward trend.
In the second quarter the decline was around 8 percent.
Calculated over the first nine months of the year, Audi currently has 1.04 million deliveries.
That is 11.4 percent less than a year ago.
At least in Germany and Europe, Audi is slightly in the black for the first nine months.
The VW subsidiary - like all German manufacturers - suffers from tough competition and a weak market in China.
In addition, the US tariffs hit the car manufacturer particularly hard because – unlike BMW, for example – it does not have its own production in the USA.
In the first nine months of the year, Audi sold almost a quarter fewer cars in China and around a sixth fewer cars in the USA.
According to Audi, the decline is currently being exacerbated by model changes in the two volume models A1 and Q2.
How clear the downward trend that has been going on at Audi for several years can also be seen when you compare with older figures.
In the third quarter of 2023, Audi delivered almost 480,000 cars from its core brand.
Around half more than now.

According to GDV, car spare parts increased in price by over four percent between August 2025 and 2026. Since 2016, the increase has averaged more than 80 percent, leading to higher repair costs.

BMW and Mercedes are competing in the European market with their new electric SUVs iX3 and GLC. Exclusive registration figures show significant progress for both manufacturers, while Audi is falling behind in the segment and sales in China are weakening.

Volkswagen recorded a group-wide sales decline of 14.3 percent to 1.88 million vehicles in the third quarter. The decline is particularly severe in China at 38.5 percent. Only Traton is recording growth.

The EU and China have agreed to limit the number of exports of hybrid vehicles. Brussels is expecting around 800,000 imports from China this year, which will likely reduce the market share of Chinese manufacturers there by half.

Audi delivered almost a fifth fewer cars in the third quarter than in the same period last year. The reasons are a weakening Chinese market, model changes and a lack of US production.
Audi delivered 19.7 percent fewer vehicles in the third quarter than in the same period last year. The reasons are the tough competition in China, a lack of US production facilities as well as model changes and declining electric car sales.