FLEETS have helped the UK overtake the United States as the primary overseas market for Audi cars.

Demand for Audi cars has risen sharply as user-choosers have migrated to premium brands and the firm is expected to reach nearly 80,000 units by the end of 2004 – double the total of 40,000 reached in 2000 in the UK. Audi claims it now has the youngest age profile of any premium car company in the UK as well as an image as the most progressive of the premium German marques.

Kevin Rose, director of Audi UK, said: ‘Audi is the largest recipient of the market migration into premium cars and we are seeing enormous customer acceptance of our products because they are a subtle combination of understated looks with exceptionally high build standards.’

Audi sales in the UK have increased by 8.2% this year, despite a static UK market, and reached 41,805 units for the first six months of the year.

Adrian Short, head of corporate sales at Audi UK, recently told Fleet News that the three premium German brands were growing because of customers going upmarket.

He said: ‘The premium sector has developed and Audi’s share has increased from 18% to 25% from 2000 to 2003. In the business market the three German premium manufacturers take a larger slice of the pie and we’re all very successful in that segment.’

Audi customer orders suggest that likely deliveries for September 2004 will be 13,500 cars, which would be another record export month for Audi.

Audi’s success in the UK has also been put down to the expansion of its range from four to eight model lines, increasing market coverage by about 40%.