Audi news....

[Jim Griffin <JGriff@pobox.com>]

FYI....

	  				 
	 FRANKFURT, Sept 27 (Reuter) - German carmaker Audi AG said  
on Friday that its worldwide sales rose during the first eight 
months of 1996 but noted a drop in its domestic market share 
compared with 1995 when the popular A4 saloon was launched. 
	 Audi, the luxury carmaking unit of Volkswagen AG, said sales  
during the period from January to August rose about 6.5 percent 
to 324,446 vehicles over year-ago levels. 
	 But the Ingolstadt-based carmaker said its market share in  
Germany during the period fell to 5.8 percent from 6.4 percent 
in the 1995 period, which saw sales rising at a breakneck pace. 
	 Audi in 1995 launch the A4 luxury saloon, which received  
critical praise and sparked a renewal at the carmaker that 
helped repair its image battered in the early 1990s over safety 
questions in the U.S. 
	 The carmaker has said that it expected production of the A4  
to peak in 1996 but still top the 1995 production level of about 
270,000 vehicles. 
	 Audi is counting on its new three-door A3 compact, which was  
introduced in early September, to keep up the renewed sales 
momentum started by the larger A4. 
	 Audi chief executive Herbert Demel told journalists late on  
Thursday in Stuttgart and in Munich on Friday that he expected 
the German luxury carmaker to report higher full-year sales but 
for unit sales to be below 500,000 vehicles. 
	 Demel, in comments to the Stuttgart press club late on  
Thursday, said the carmaker expected further growth in 1997 and 
to top unit production of 500,000. Audi in 1995 produced 448,200 
units. 
	 Audi also said it has not yet decided whether to implement a  
new sick-pay policy that a number of German companies have 
decided to start on October 1. 
	 Demel said the topic was under discussion and that one  
possibility at Audi, a unit of Volkswagen AG, would be not to 
cut sick-day payments but instead to use holiday time to offset 
lost working hours. 
	 The new law approved by Bonn calls allows for sick pay to be  
cut to 80 percent of gross wages from the current level of 100 
percent. 
	 Many German companies, including industrial group  
Daimler-Benz AG, have said they will implement the new policy 
beginning next week but unions have threatened to stage protest 
strikes. 
  	   	
                             Jim Griffin
                      JGriff@pobox.com
                        Maryland, USA
"Perception is often stronger than reality!"
                               '92 100S
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