BERLIN—Audi AG's first-quarter sales slipped slightly from a year ago because of the stronger euro, the German automaker said Monday, but its operating profit was up 28 percent amid demand for its cars.
The Ingolstadt-based maker of the Audi TT, A4 and other models, said its operating profit for the first three months of the year was 514 million euros ($803.3 million) compared with 401 million euros in 2007.
Audi did not release its net profit figures for the quarter.
Sales slipped to nearly 8.3 billion euros ($12.9 billion) in the January-March period compared with nearly 8.7 billion euros a year ago, a dip the
The euro has been on a tear against the dollar, reaching a record $1.6018 last week before falling back to below $1.57 Monday.
Looking forward, Audi said it expects its sales momentum in the U.S. and Western Europe to stagnate or even decline, but said stronger growth in China, India and Russia would help offset that.
Despite the forecast, the automaker said it still hopes to sell 1 million cars in 2008, long its stated goal. Last year, Audi sold 964,151 cars, an increase of 6.5 percent from the 2006 figure of 905,188 cars.
The carmaker sold 251,268 cars worldwide in the January-March period, up 1.3 percent from a year ago when it sold 248,139 in the first quarter of 2007.
Shares of Audi were down less than 1 percent to 538.15 euros ($841.02) in Frankfurt.
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