Audi sells its 2 millionth car in the U.K., 50 years after its first delivery.
The A3 Sportback plug-in hybrid follows a long line of vehicles that started in 1965, when the brand sold just 32 cars.
The first U.K. unit sold was dubbed a compact executive in a model range of just one, internally codenamed the F103 and publicly known simply as “The Audi.” It was the springboard for a lineup that in 2015 numbers some 51 model types ranging from subcompact city cars to 10-cyl. supercars.
From a base of just 14,344 in 1991, the brand exceeded 100,000 annual deliveries for the first time in 2007, and in 2014 sales rose 11.8% to 158,987 units.
“The last two decades have delivered virtually constant and, in all but three years, record-breaking growth,” Audi U.K. Director André Konsbruck says.
Audi U.K. sales reached the 2 million mark as the parent company edges closer to selling 2 million cars globally in a single year; a record 1.74 million
To maintain this performance, the brand is to spend about €24 billion ($36.6 million) between now and 2019 with 70% channeled into new-model development and innovative technologies.
The U.K.-pioneering ‟The Audi” was built by Auto Union, the conglomerate whose emblem contained a ring representing each of its four constituent companies Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer.
“The Audi” was assembled at the company’s Ingolstadt plant in Bavaria, Germany, which remains Audi headquarters, and was the first car to leave the production line with a 4-stroke engine rather than the conventional 2-stroke design.
Available as a 2-door coupe, 4-door sedan or wagon, “The Audi” essentially was the precursor to the Audi 80 and 90, which went on to form the conceptual basis of the A4, the compact executive sedan that sparked a revolution for the Audi brand in 1995.
