Audi reports that its car sales during the first quarter of 2022 decreased by 16.8% to 385,084, although a year ago the first quarter was "above-average."
According to the manufacturer, the two main causes behind the noticeable decline are supply shortages and renewed COVID-19 lockdowns in China.
With this as background, all-electric car sales of the Audi brand do not look bad. In Q1, some 24,236 units were delivered, which is 66% more than a year ago. That's about 6.3% of Audi's total sales and the second highest result within the Volkswagen Group.
However, while the year-over-year increase is significant, compared to the previous quarter, it's not so rosy. Deliveries noticeably decreased compared to Q4.
Sales of the plug-in hybrid models were not disclosed.
Audi BEV sales in Q1 2022
Among several Audi electric cars, the top two families are the Audi Q4 e-tron/Audi Q4 Sportback e-tron (10,700) and Audi e-tron, Audi e-tron Sportback and the S-versions of both (10,300).
It means that the Audi e-tron GT/Audi RS e-tron GT noted up to over 3,200 units.
Assuming business as usual, this year Audi should be able to sell a six-digit number of BEVs, compared to 81,894 in 2021.
According to the previously announced plans, in the next few years, the number of all-electric models will triple to more than 20.
Here are the main points:
- Audi will spend about €18 billion on electrification and hybridization between 2022 and 2026
(almost half of its total investment of around €37 billion) - Audi plans to have more than 20 fully electric models in its portfolio by 2025
- Starting in 2026, the brand will exclusively bring new fully electric models to the market.
The recently unveiled Audi urbansphere concept gave us glimpses of the future of Audi electrification.