Prestige car maker Audi has reported a 6.2% slip in profitability in 2013 despite the Volkswagen-owned car maker breaking global sales records.
Profits at Audi dropped from 5.3bn (£4.45bn) to just over 5bn. The fall in profitability at the business was attributed to a combination of low global interest rates, further investment in research and development, and acquiring equipment for factories in Mexico, Hungary and Brazil.
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Sales at the division, which includes sports car maker Lamborghini, climbed in 2013 by 8.3% to 1.57 million, which is 600,000 more vehicles than a decade ago. Of that total, 732,000 were sold in Europe, which was a rise of 5% on the year before.
The US saw strong growth in sales to 158,000, a jump of 13.5% on 2012.
The VW group main board has set Audi a target of 200,000 car sales per annum in the region within the next four years.
The best performing market for Audi was China, however, which leapt 20% to 492,000 units over the year. Audi hopes to be the first premium brand to exceed 500,000 vehicle sales in China.
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By GlobalData
