Ingolstadt/Brno - The German carmaker Audi raised its net profit by 9% from next year. The company announced last week that that it made EUR 3.18 billion. The sales of luxury cars, which are produced by a company that falls under Volkswagen, have been rising for the last 13 years. Last year, sales increased by 2% to EUR 34.2 billion.

Audi isn't such an exception on the luxury car market. On the contrary: Only luxury brand carmakers have seen their profits fall.

Decline could come this year

Porsche has so far seen the greatest decline in sales, a 27% decrease year on year. But these are the results for the first two fiscal quarters which ended this January. It includes the beginning of this year, which carmakers say was the worst time in modern history.

If we look at statistics from last year alone, Bentley has experienced the biggest decline. Like Audi, it falls under Volkswagen. Since 2007, its sales fell by 24%.

Mercedes-Benz has also experienced a decline. Its sales fell by 5% from last year.

BMW experienced similar results at the end of 2008. The year looked promising at the beginning. But in the end sales declined by 4.3%, the first decline since 1993.

But the successful Audi is expecting to feel the impact of the crisis. "We are planning to save hundreds of millions of euros. We expect that our sales will fall this year by at least 10%," says Alex Strotbek, the company's financial director. According to the Hungarian paper Népszabadság, the Hungarian Audi branch wants to stop production for three weeks because of declining demand.

The British Jaguar, which falls under the Indian company Tata Motors, will be trying to save on managers' salaries. And yet last year, the company increased its sales by 8%.

"The cost saving measures are our reaction to the inevitable impact declining credit loans, which, we expect, will result in lower demand this year. We expect that sales conditions will not return to normal levels for a while," says David Smith, the company's general manager.

More bonds in the Czech Republic

Although the last quarter of 2008 saw a world-wide decline in sales for all luxury car makers, the Czech Republic has yet to feel the impact.

Car sales in the Czech Republic increased only by 8.4%, but luxury car sales experienced double-digit growth, according to the Czech Car Importers Association.

Porsche in the Czech Republic increased its sales 41%. Audi saw a 34% sale increase, BMW 16% and Mercedes 12%. The most high-end car brands saw even greater sales increases in the Czech Republic, mainly because only very few such cars are sold in the Czech Republic in the first place.

As of last year, for instance, two new Rolls-Royces now roam the roads of the Czech Republic. No Rolls-Royces were sold the year before. The sales of Aston Martins, the car brand made famous by James Bond films, has increased from four to 10 in the Czech Republic last year. Last year also saw the sale of 36 Maserati in the Czech Republic, which is twice as much as in 2007. The aristocratic Bentley, meanwhile, was purchased by 18 Czechs last year.

The results for this year so far do not indicate that the demand for luxury cars in the Czech Republic might be falling. "The first month always tends to see the weakest sales. But this year's statistics are comparable to the statistics from the beginning of 2008," ways Veronika Leifrová from the company Auto Exner, which sells these brands in the Czech Republic.

Cheaper cars not selling so well

Other car makers can only dream about increasing their sales by so much. Europe alone experienced the lowest car sales in the last 15 years. And the volume of car sales decreased world wide.

Volkswagen is also experiencing a much tougher year. Its sales last year increased by 0.6% to record 6.23 million cars. Škoda also increased its sales - by more than 7%, to a record 674,500 cars. Škoda Auto's operational profit fell by more than a fifth to EUR 565 million (CZK 15.3 billion) because of an unfavourable currency exchange rate.

The US giant General Motors saw its sales fall by 11% year on year. This cost the company its position as the biggest car producer in the world. That position is now occupied by Toyota, which saw a 4% decline in sales year on year.

Car sales around the world in 2008:
- BMW - 4,3 % 1,400 000 cars
- Mercedes-Benz - 5 % 1,126 000 cars
- Audi + 4,1 % 1,003 000 cars
- Jaguar + 8% 65,350 cars
- Maserati + 17 % 8,600 cars
- Bentley - 24 % 7,605 cars
- Ferrari + 2% 6,587 cars
- Lamborghini + 1% 2,430 cars
- Rolls-Royce + 20 % 1,212 cars