It took a few years after the chip shortage, but the car market is absolutely ripping. BMW just recorded its best U.S. sales year ever, Lexus just had its best-ever year, Genesis had another record-breaking year and is now nipping at the heels of Lincoln. Generally, it’s a good time to be a luxury automaker, unless you happen to be Audi.
That’s because Audi didn’t exactly have a great 2025. Titling the sales release with the rather plain “Audi of America reports 2025 year-end sales” already felt like a warning, and a glance at the actual sales table reveals why the headline didn’t tout any achievements: Sales were down 16 percent over 2024. Ouch.
In raw numbers, that’s a drop from 196,576 units to 164,942 units. Not great, and that’s before you look at the fourth-quarter results, which are even worse. We’re talking about a year-over-year drop of 36 percent for the fourth quarter, some 20,678 units just gone compared to last year. It’s exceptionally unusual for a company to suffer nearly two-thirds of its loss in sales volume over just a single quarter, which begs the question: Is Audi the new Infiniti?
Flash back to the late 2000s, and Infiniti was absolutely crushing it. The G37 was a proper world-class sports sedan at a time when sports sedans still sold, the EX was a properly sporty compact luxury crossover, the FX was a pioneer, and even the QX56 was a decent Navigator alternative. Then, things changed. Every car name started with a Q, wiping out brand equity. The G37’s successor got soft, investments made didn’t match where the market was going, and a sales spiral resulted. Is a similar thing happening at Audi right now? Let’s see.
Let’s start off with the obvious: The rollback in EV incentives didn’t play well with Audi’s strategy. Last year was a big one for Audi’s electric push, with the A6 Sportback e-tron and Q6 e-tron coming online in America. With the latter filling space above the entry-level Q4 e-tron and effectively replacing the somewhat aged Q8 e-tron, and the former offering an electric sedan below the e-tron GT, sales were off to a decent start. However, something weird happened that affected the fourth quarter.
Of the 17,481 Q6 e-tron and Q6 Sportback e-tron examples sold last year, 220 were sold in the fourth quarter. I’m not missing a zero, that’s just what the official chart says. Sales of the A6 e-tron look a bit better with the fourth quarter seeing deliveries of 220 of the 3,931 sold this year, but this electric sedan didn’t go on sale until late in the second quarter, and logged 3,532 sales in the third quarter. It’s worth noting that Q4 e-tron sales were also down late in the year, with just 71 out of 6,738 units for 2025 being sold in the fourth quarter.
So what’s going on here? Well, the end of federal EV tax credits and their leasing loophole resulted in market-wide pull-ahead in Q3. Across the industry, inventory that was expected to last months flew out of showrooms ahead of schedule. In addition, Volkswagen briefly paused production in the Zwickau-Mosel plant during October, citing weak Audi Q4 e-tron demand, and that’s before we consider what effects the Nexperia crisis might’ve had on production.
Alright, Audi’s all-electric ambitions haven’t quite panned out, which wouldn’t be a problem if there were a strong combustion-powered lineup to fall back on. It’s safe to say that Audi’s gasoline-powered range isn’t the strongest it’s ever been, and some big weaknesses stand out. Let’s start with the easily solvable ones: Production of the new-generation Audi A6 was still ramping this year, and the fourth-quarter sales figure is within two percent of last year’s fourth-quarter sales figure despite a full-year sales decrease of 19 percent for the model. Any brief blip here should iron itself out in 2026. Likewise, we just had a model changeover for the Q3 subcompact crossover, so volumes there are likely to recover once production of the latest generation ramps up. As for the A3, while full-year sales are down 13 percent, fourth-quarter sales are up 63 percent. This is a bright spot, so it’s best to keep on keeping on in that department.
Unfortunately, that’s about where the good news ends, and the bad begins. Perhaps the biggest debacle is the new A5 and S5, which haven’t received the most glowing reception. See, Audi came up with a naming scheme to make all gasoline-powered models have odd numbers and all EVs to have even numbers, but abandoned it after effectively one combustion model launched: the new A5. A liftback sedan, it replaces both the old A4 and the old A5 Sportback, while the A5 coupe and convertible have been discontinued. Unfortunately, not only does it look and feel a bit cheap, but any performance gains aren’t immediately evident. In a piece entitled “Tested: 2025 Audi S5 Is Worse Than It Was Five Years Ago,” Edmunds found that the new S5 was slower to 60 mph, took longer to stop from 60 mph, and served up worse roadholding than its predecessor. As the outlet wrote:
We wouldn’t be surprised to see the return of the higher-performance RS 5 at some point with this generation, and that would be a warm reception. Because the S5 just doesn’t cut it in terms of performance or driving experience — not when we strapped our gear to it, and not from the seat of our pants.
Add in a substantial price hike, and it’s not difficult to see why A5 and S5 sales plummeted. If we lump in the old A4 to last year’s totals, we’re looking at an effective 2025 drop from 31,672 units to 16,886 units. Considering the compact sports sedan segment has historically been one of Audi’s strongest, the new A5 and S5 seem like a misstep.
At the same time, much of the lineup is getting a bit aged. The current A7 and A8 are around eight years old, the current Q7 is a decade old, and the Q8 is seven years old. While the A7 and Q8 have posted five-percent sales gains for the year, all four of these models are down in the fourth quarter. Then there’s the curious case of the new Q5, Audi’s highest-volume model. While 2025 was a changeover year, production has ramped up by now, yet fourth-quarter sales are down 23 percent over last year, when the old Q5 was still on sale. Perhaps this is because the new Q5 follows a similar path to the new A5, costing more but not exactly feeling leaps and bounds more advanced.
It seems like Audi’s current woes are part planning and part product, with a sprinkle of supply chain shenanigans thrown in for good measure. While an annual sales figure of 164,942 units doesn’t put the brand in dire straits, it is the lowest we’ve seen from Audi since 2013, and for a significant portion of the drop to occur in the fourth quarter paints an ugly picture. I’m not saying full-Infiniti, but if things don’t turn around, Audi could end up closer to say, Genesis or Lincoln than it expected. The only way out? Offer seriously compelling cars that form a less confusing lineup than what we’ve got right now. Let’s monitor the situation and see what happens, shall we?
Top graphic image: Audi
MODERN. One word. That’s what made AUDI interesting. When I was shopping for a BMW, SAAB, or Volvo, the allure of Audi was that it was perfectly modern. No stupid swage lines, refined grilles, big bold OOOO logo, muscular looking without gorp.There was confidence in the pure designs.
Now, they have a watered down used Hyundai pastiche of lines, more lines, grilles that look like the rubber mats in restaurant kitchens, blacked out logos, dull, seen-it-everywhere light bars across the rear. And famous unreliability. There’s zero allure.
The brand use to be the go-to for stylish, design focused, refined people. I know a lot of that type, and not one drives an Audi now. Maybe a Rivian, Volvo, even Ioniq 5, but certainly not an A or Qwhatever. It’s as uncool as Target, now. Quite a fall.
I miss Audis from the 1980s, even though I had one and it was pretty unreliable. They new ones barely interest me at all, even though some are visually appealing.
I lost track of the model names about a third of the way through.
I just want to know what the deal with Audi’s styling is? They used to have this sporty, muscular, but simultaneously restrained and upscale look. Like an athlete in a fine suit.
Now they look like a cross between a 2013 Ford Fusion and a Hyundai.
Audi looked amazing in like 2008. The fresh design language was killing it, and then it feels like they never really figured out how to evolve it? The e-tron gt looks like an angry fish that is horrid, the crossovers are about as bland as can be, and instead of refining their design language it’s like they’re just adding more things on. Look at the grille of that blue Q7(?) – there is so much happening there. The Q4 E-tron shot looks like it could be a bargain basement Kia or Hyundai model from a few years ago, it’s just baffling.
Also, if the numbers I’m seeing are correct – it looks like Cadillac outsold Audi by like 15K vehicles – when’s the last time that happened?
At this point I’m not sure why the brand exists.
First of all- the cars are awful. The same atrocious lack of reliability as its parent company
Second- their lineup is pretty bland. Jellybean looking generic designs that look aged.
So.. Audi had bad Q4 sales but also bad everything else sales but ok sales in Q3 but the Q3 sales were bad in Q4 e-tron… no wonder they had to give it a sensible title, the rest of it is all over the place.
You decided to continuo with ICE vehicles and will therefore receive outdated models from now on. No automaker, with a will to live, has done any development on ICE vehicles for years.
Disagree. VW/Audi invested billions in BEV research (Cariad), it just failed spectacularly with Cariad losses exceeding $7 billion. Out of desperation, VW gave Rivian $5 billion hoping they can fix what Cariad screwed up. This BEV investment came at the expense of continuing to evolve their existing (and selling) ICE vehicles.
Toyota would like to have a word with you.
Only time will tell.
Um . . . Did you miss the EV reality check a couple years ago?
EVs are the future but ICE is a long way from end of life.
Depends on your market. Market shares above 85%, year after year, in countries that has a developed infrastructure, shows a different picture.
All will work out under original warranty, maybe extended OEM if you got that or Audi CPO if it ends up sold the right way… Then, you have crossed the event horizon. That gaming center screenfest, zillion modules and just general complexity will slowly distort your financial reality. Until everything goes wonky, gravity changes, and the singularity sucks you, your car and your finances in whole and it ends up financially totaled… I am a former Audi A3 owner, I sold it before the oem warranty ended and I no longer had escape velocity…
As others have noted, aside from the RS6, it’s not clear any of their current lineup is special. And the irony of the long in the tooth platform on which the RS6 is built is that the UI is last generation, which is a good thing. Still too few buttons, but CarPlay on the top screen, the lower one for HVAC and you have a workable system
And a 620 HP Wagon is still a hoot.
Just yesterday I was booking a rental car. There were a couple “such as Audi…” Choices available so looked those up. Just totally nondescript crossover blob nothings. And these sedan pics just drive the point home. That black sedan could easily be a Ford Fusion.
Audi seemed like they were losing ground pre-pandemic. Dealers for Japanese luxury brands had lots full of Audi lease returns and trade-ins.
They drove nice at first but some of those entry-level models definitely shared trim pieces with the VW Jetta.
And with so many of the issues being electrical, why trust them with an EV?
I laughed when I watched a review of the Veyron on Top Gear. The annunciator that went off when they engaged launch control was the same as my ’01 Jetta warning that I hadn’t fastened my seatbelt. Parts bin engineering at its finest.
Echoes of another dark era for Audi after the sudden acceleration thing with the 5000. There was a long period of time after that where Audi simply wasn’t in the conversation when shopping that segment of the market.
I’m trying to remember when/if Audi was ever a strong player in the USA. I just looked up how many Audi 100 models were sold here, which according to the web was around 300,000. MB USA sold over 2,500,000 W124 models. My seat of the pants guess is that the Jaguar XJ saloon outsold them. I do seem to remember a lot of Audi 4000s around in the ’80s, but I haven’t seen an ’80s era or even a ’90s era Audi on the street in a very long time. There are a fair number of nearly new Q5 and Q7 around so I guess that’s something.
They got rolling in 1995 with the A4, and were pretty strong from the early 2000s through at least 2015, I think.
I think part of the issue was that Audi went all-in on EVs, to the point of flat-out abandoning their efforts to evolve/improve their ICE lineup. Now they are scrambling to catch up to where they should be, and scrambling causes its own issues. I am sure Audi will sort it out, but it might be another generation before most models get back to snuff.
Note, i’m not unbiased as I just picked-up a new S3. Have to say that, to me, this car is damn near perfect. Mild looking (a plus for me), comfortable, nice materials (real switches!), quiet, relatively efficient, goes like hell when you want it to, and the other week when i got caught in a snowstorm in Maine it climbed hills and navigated backroads like a mountain goat.
I just went to the Audi website, because honestly their lineup has become so bland that I forget what they even offer.
The first page invites me to “Discover Audi Q5” which looks like the Mercedes “bar of soap” body from the EQE/S with the Audi rings and grille on it. Featured in black paint with what looks like base model wheels. They succeeded at making this thing look as boring as possible, kudos to the advertising team.
The only two models that don’t look completely soulless are the RS6 Avant we all know, and the E-Tron GT. The E-Tron starts at $127k, the RS6 at $130k. Not exactly a price point for many people.
The S5, which I used to think was awesome in the V8 coupe days, and was always somewhat subtle for a performance model (in a good way), just looks so vanilla in its current form. I cannot imagine getting excited to drop $70k+ on that thing. Oh, but it has a screen on the passenger side! Good thing they got that in there.
I’d probably shop Infiniti before Audi these days. At least you don’t hear that Infinitis are complete junk, just maybe a little boring/stale. Audis still have a great rep for emptying your wallet at the mechanic as a cherry on top.
I dunno, if there’s anyone less exciting than Audi right now, it’s Infiniti. The entire lineup consists of 3 crossover blobs running the problematic and slow VC turbo motor, and a tinseled Armada. It’s in bad shape.
To judge by the way so many Audi CUVs are being driven (poorly) these days, Yes, they are very much the new Infiniti.
Also, if they have to get rid of the five cylinder (they don’t, but keep saying they do), PLEASE put a 550hp variant of it in the RS4 wagon. The world needs one last RS2.
It makes perfect sense that Audi are doing terribly. They threw away all brand equity by creating overly busy and cheap looking exterior and interior designs. You could always rely on Audi for their design solidity and now they have nothing. They’ve thrown away their interior advantage just like VW.
A 20 year old S4 wagon still looks amazing, the lines are clean and measured. The new S5 just looks forgettable.