Audi said to abandon annual China sales goal of 600,000 autos

Luxury automaker Audi will abandon its China sales goal of 600,000 vehicles for the year, Bloomberg reported, citing two unnamed sources. While the German carmaker’s sales rose 1.9% in the first half to 273,853, its deliveries in China dropped 5.8% in June. Audi had said at the Shanghai auto show in April that its annual sales in China (including Hong Kong) hit 578,932 vehicles last year and were set to reach 600,000 for the first time in 2015. After more than tripling its Chinese deliveries since 2009, the maker is facing a slowdown as its best-selling A4 sedan is aging, said Evercore ISI analyst Arndt Ellinghorst.