DESPITE its phenomenal annual sales growth returning to single-digit figures this year, Audi Australia is confident it can climb into the top 10 of Audi markets around the world.

As at the end of August, Audi Australia is sitting in 11th place with 16,095 sales, less than 2000 units behind Japan in 10th – the only market for the four-ringed brand to be in negative territory this year, down 9.9 per cent with 17,970 sales.

Australia’s continuing strong performance marks a 7.3 per cent improvement on the same period last year, although its growth rate has fallen from the 20 per cent increase it achieved for the full year last year – when it finished 13th in the Audi world rankings – following on from the 20 per cent growth it also recorded in 2014.

Audi Australia managing director Andrew Doyle said that the position gives the company a lot of satisfaction, but would like to see that result improve.

“Just so close outside the top 10 – that makes us very proud, because we’re a competitive country and we like to knock off other countries wherever we can,” Mr Doyle told journalists at the recent A4 Allroad launch in Queensland.

“That gives us a lot of satisfaction, but it also means, more importantly, that we’re actually very close to within the top 10.

“When you talk about a certain model within our range, we’re very much within the top 10, and that allows us to really have a lot more influence, I think, in the board level of Audi AG globally as to the type of product and the specification of the product coming through to our country which Australian consumers really want.”

While the company refused to publicly acknowledge the strongest models in question, the first-generation Q5 has been a runaway success in Australia, while sales of RS models including the R8 have been, on average, stronger in Australia than in almost every other Audi market.

The new Q7, too, has performed strongly since its debut early this year.

Mr Doyle nominated the forthcoming SQ7 performance hybrid as a vehicle that could help to push Audi Australia into the top 10 worldwide.

“The feedback we’ve had already and the success we’ve had with the SQ5 has led us to believe that we can be quite excited by that model,” he said. “Speaking to a number of dealers as well, a number of customers have already expressed a great deal of interest in it.

“Production levels will be quite limited, but we’ll be asking for as many as we can get. The SQ5 speaks for itself as a sales success, and I think we’ll see a similar story with the SQ7.”

Audi’s solid performance in Australia comes despite having some key vehicles like the Q5 unavailable to it early in 2016 due to a stop-sale order related to the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal.

VFACTS figures show that the A3 is clearly Audi’s biggest-selling model with 4569 sales across all variants this year, while the company’s trio of SUVs – Q3 (2571), Q5 (2214) and Q7 (2049) – have contributed 6834 sales between them.

Audi’s strongest market, China, had sold 385,734 cars to the end of August, a 6.8 per cent (or 24,419-unit) improvement over the same period in 2015. Its home market of Germany, too, is steaming along, up 11.6 per cent and entrenched in second place with 208,378 sales year to date.

The US and UK markets are the next strongest, on 134,562 (+3.5 per cent) and 107,825 (+2.9 per cent) respectively, while in terms of sheer growth France and Spain (the latter including the Canary Islands) have both recorded gains of 15.0 per cent this year with respective sales of 41,578 and 36,522 units.

This puts France just 58 units behind Italy (41,636, +5.3 per cent) in the battle for fifth, while slightly further afield the Canadian market is also booming for Audi, up 14.6 per cent this year on 20,662 sales and within striking distance of Belgium (22,278, +1.2 per cent).

That leaves Japan and Australia fighting it out for 10th position, while South Korea has slipped out of contention this year, largely due to the ongoing diesel emissions cheat device scandal engulfing the Volkswagen Group.

In August, South Korea’s ministry of environment revoked the certification of 80 model variants sold by VW, Audi and Bentley – a decision covering 83,000 cars, sold and unsold – and handed down heavy fines for the company.

Figures from the Korea Automobile Importers and Distributors Association (KAIDA) show that Audi sold only 476 cars last month, down 83 per cent from 2796 units sold a year ago. Among the cars suspended from sale were TDI versions of its A6, which were among the top-selling models for the brand in the marketplace.

For the year to date, Audi’s sales in Korea are at 15,038 units, down 24.7 per cent.

Audi’s total global sales to the end of August stand at 1,234,900, up 4.9 per cent, after delivering 132,350 units last month (+2.9 per cent on August 2015).

“In August, Audi achieved its 80th month of growth in a row,” said Audi’s global sales and marketing chief Dietmar Voggenreiter. “This impressive sequence shows that our business is geared towards solid long-term success.

“In a generally difficult market environment, a healthy, sustainable development is therefore the top priority for us.”

By Tim Robson and Terry Martin