This Popular Car Brand Recorded Its Worst US Sales In Years

Audi has not been having a good time recently, at least not in the U.S. Audi's American sales since the start of the decade haven't been amazing, but 2025 was the worst of a bad bunch. In its 2025 year-end sales report, Audi revealed that it sold just 164,942 cars, a significant 16% drop from 2024's 196,576 units. More damningly, however, 2025's sales are worse than even the peak pandemic years of 2020 and 2021, when Audi sold 186,620 and 196,038 cars, respectively.

Audi's e-tron models sold almost as poorly as in 2024. Sales of the Q4 e-tron and Q4 Sportback e-tron dropped 38% and 48% each, going from 8,546 and 2,810 units sold to 5,264 and 1,474, respectively. The Q8 e-tron, which Audi has officially discontinued, also dragged Audi's 2025 numbers down, with its 642 units sold representing an 89% decline from 2024's 5,978. The e-tron GT's sales also dropped by an eyebrow-raising 59%, although it was never a big seller anyway: Audi sold 2,894 in 2024, and 1,195 left dealership lots in 2025.

ICE cars weren't spared, either. The Audi Q3, which J.D. Power considers one of the best luxury cars under $40,000, suffered a 27% drop in sales, from 32,090 units to 23,581. The Q5 also didn't have a great 2025, although its 46,215 units sold are only 19% down from 2024. By far the biggest loser was the Audi A4, although that's likely due to Audi having discontinued it. Still, a 93% drop in sales to 507 units undoubtedly didn't help Audi's end-of-year numbers.

While Audi's 2025 was abysmal, there were some signs of hope for the automaker. The Q8 and A7 both saw 5% increases in sales, although neither sold enough to move the needle at 10,881 and 1,654 units, respectively. The new-for-2025 Audi Q6 e-tron also performed well, though the massive 1,681% sales increase is attributable to 2025 being its first full year on sale. Still, 17,207 units sold isn't bad at all. Many of the automaker's vehicles, such as the RS3 and SQ7, also impressed reviewers, SlashGear included, and seven of its cars earned the IIHS' Top Safety Pick+ award for 2025. So the cars themselves, at least, are still good.

But there's no way around the poor sales, especially compared to the fortunes of fellow German automakers Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Both companies have been outselling Audi since the 2020s started, and 2025 was no different. Mercedes-Benz has yet to reveal its Q4 2025 sales at the time of writing, but its Q3 2025 sales report, released in October 2025, indicated that it had moved 223,800 cars up to that point — already nearly 60,000 more than Audi, with a whole quarter to go.

BMW is likely the king of the hill for 2025, as it had a record-setting 2025 according to its end-of-year sales report. The Bavarian firm sold 388,897 cars in 2025, a 4.7% increase from 371,346 in 2024. BMW's fortunes were also buoyed by a 9.3% increase in sales for its Mini subsidiary, which sold 28,749 cars.