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Fourtitude recorded the entire presentation from the 118th Annual General Meeting. There were presentations by two executives. Audi is in great position on many fronts (Lamborghini is also mentioned at the meeting) The more profitable a company is - the more they can invest in their future. The most interesting point to me is that they noted profits increase more rapidly than sales because a higher portion of the sales are their more expensive vehicles. Despite the naysayers here - it appears that worldwide they are Tier 1. As a bonus the presentation detailed exactly how the R8 is handbuilt at the factory. Click the link to read the entire report and presentation. Here are some excerpts:

We sold 905,200 vehicles in 2006 – more than ever before. This is equivalent to a increase of 9.2 percent compared with the previous year.

When we look at Audi's progress over the past eleven years, we see that the company is on a steady upward curve – even if at times the economy in general has been experiencing difficulties. 2006 was the eleventh record-breaking year in succession.

We established new records in an amazing 41 markets in 2006! We made substantial progress particularly in the major European markets. Herr Weyler will be providing further details on that subject in a few moments.

Notching up impressive growth of 17.1 percent, the Audi Group's revenue reached a new record high of EUR 31.1 billion in the past financial year.

This is well above the rate of increase in vehicle sales.

This extremely pleasing development in revenue is attributable in particular to a further improvement in the model mix as a result of sales of higher-specification vehicles. But there are also other ratios in the Income Statement that impressively underline our financial success.
Gross profit, for example, rose to EUR 3.8 billion in the past financial year, an increase of 21.6 percent. This represents a disproportionately high growth rate compared with the development in revenue.

The rate of increase in our profit from operating activities was even higher at 43.2 percent, taking us above the EUR 2 billion mark for the first time in 2006.
Vehicle sales grew by more than 9 percent in 2006. Over the same period, revenue went up by 17 percent. Profit before tax even rose by almost 49 percent.

As you can see, there was a disproportionately sharp rise in revenue and earnings. This not only supplies evidence of sustained qualitative growth, but also provides an excellent springboard for the future development of our company.
A glance at our development by segment reveals that we achieved marked growth in terms of quality as well as quantity. The share of high-prestige, profitable models in the C and D segments (in other words A6, Audi Q7 and A8) rose from around 26 percent to over 34 percent.

One illustration of the high prestige that the Audi brand enjoys is the choice of engine: over one-third of customers opted for a 6, 8, 10 or 12-cylinder version.

The level of optional equipment ordered has also risen. Revenue from the Audi A6 has been increased by around 70 percent over the past five years, thanks to optional extras, and in the case of the Audi A8 it is actually 90 percent.
We are the world market leader in this segment with the Audi A6. This is yet further evidence of how the substance of the products and the appeal of the Audi brand have grown further.

The ten biggest markets account for about 80 percent of our sales. It is particularly satisfying to note that we are growing not only in young, expanding markets, but have also been expanding in certain mature markets in Western Europe for some years now.

China is well on the way to becoming a second home market for Audi. Last year was the first time that we sold over 80,000 vehicles there. We will furthermore continue to grow vigorously in China and extend our long-standing market lead for premium vehicles.
Our long-term aim is to be the leading premium brand in every market. Our strong image position in Germany has been confirmed by the recently published ams reader poll. Audi is right out in front for both quality and emotion.


Our products are likewise increasing their market shares in Western Europe excluding Germany. The highest growth rates in this respect were achieved in Sweden, Spain, France and Belgium.

We are also achieving impressive growth rates in Eastern Europe. The most notable of these is Russia, where we are market leader in the premium segment with growth of 60 percent.

Our objective in the USA is profitable growth. In other words, our emphasis is on profitability rather than volume. With vehicle sales reaching 90,000, Audi achieved a growth rate of 8.5 percent. We sold over 10,000 of the Audi Q7 in the USA, giving this model increasing significance in the SUV segment.

The sales figures for the first quarter of 2007 are solid proof that we are on the right track and that our growth is continuing unchecked. For example, despite a downturn in our home market of Germany following the VAT rate increase, our unit sales worldwide rose by 9.4 percent to more than 248,000 vehicles. March was in fact the best month in the entire history of the company, with sales exceeding 100,000 vehicles.

Vehicle sales in April were up 9.2 percent on last year.We were particularly pleased with the growth rates of 87 percent in Russia, to around 1,400 units, and 25 percent in the UK, taking the total to some 7,500 vehicles.

Audi published its first ever quarterly report just a few days ago. It reveals that our strategy of increasing revenue more steeply than vehicle sales succeeded in the first three months of this year. In the first quarter of 2007, this performance indicator grew by 13.4 percent to almost EUR 8.7 billion. The profit from operating activities in turn improved by 14.6 percent and thus more steeply than revenue, reaching EUR 401 million.
Our excellent accounts for 2006 and the first quarter of this year once again demonstrate how to achieve profitable growth.
It is of course not a valid approach simply to take these excellent sales, revenue and earnings figures for the first three months and multiply them by four when forecasting the full-year figures for 2007.That would be ridiculously simplistic. But one thing is for certain: we will be continuing down the path of success! The dynamic growth in our sales figures ought to be reflected in our key earnings figures this year, too. We therefore expect the latter to be at least on a par with last year's high level.

We aim for our unit sales to reach the one million barrier by the end of 2008. And we have even revised our sales target for 2015 upwards: Until now we have been forecasting unit sales of 1.4 million vehicles. Thanks to our dynamic growth and the long-term thinking behind our product portfolio, we are convinced that we will actually manage to sell 1.5 million vehicles in 2015...
...and that's also an easier figure to remember.


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