Audi has enjoyed the strongest first quarter in its history with worldwide deliveries reaching around 369,500 units for January through to March.

In this period, the manufacturer achieved growth in all of its three main sales regions - Europe, Asia and North America. Unit sales in March played a major role in this respect. Audi handed over around 147,700 cars to customers - 3.0 per cent more than one year earlier and the strongest March on record.

"Building on the first quarter's record deliveries, we want to continue this positive sales trend over the next months, too", says Luca de Meo, Member of the board of management for sales and marketing at AUDI AG. "The new A3 Sportback will also contribute to this goal. It was successfully introduced in the first markets in February and we are very pleased with the response from the dealerships."

The A1 Sportback, the A4 family and the SUV models in particular provided a further boost in the first quarter of 2013. Worldwide sales of the compact SUV Q3 gained 58.2 per cent year on year, climbing to around 28,550 units, while the Q5 grew by 15.6 per cent to some 56,350 units.

In the UK, Audi total sales climbed 9.7 per cent to 39,242 units, and March results in particular also showed growth, with Audi exceeding the strong prior-year month yet again by 8.0 per cent (24,913 units).