Audi says profit may fall more than sales in '09

Audi AG, Volkswagen AG’s luxury-car division, said profit may fall more than sales this year as demand for its larger, more-lucrative models declines.

Worldwide vehicle sales for the unit are expected to fall 10 percent this year, Rupert Stadler, Audi’s chief executive officer, said today in an interview at the Shanghai motor show.

“We’ve had a much bigger drop in the higher-end segment,” he said. “It is logical profit will fall more than sales. Big cars mean big margins.”

Global deliveries fell 11 percent in March to 90,400 cars and sport-utility vehicles, the unit said April 6. It boosted sales 4.1 percent last year to a record 1 million vehicles, the 13th consecutive annual increase. While recessions in the U.S. and Europe have damped demand for luxury vehicles Stadler expects China sales to rise this year.

The unit has cut production by 12,500 vehicles by shortening work hours, including cutbacks between April 13 and April 17. The company trimmed workdays from Feb. 20 to Feb. 27 at its two main factories in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm, Germany, affecting 25,000 of its 57,000 workers.

Last year, Audi deliveries rose 17 percent in China. Last month, Asia-Pacific region sales gained 5 percent to 15,600 vehicles, while Western Europe sales fell 13 percent to 61,200.