Berlin  - German luxury carmaker Audi AG reported Friday a 25 per cent drop in profit during the first six months of the year as the global recession hit premium vehicle sales.

The Volkswagen AG offshoot said first-half net profit came in at about 697 million euros (979.5 million dollars) compared with 930 million euros in the same period last year.

This followed a 16 per cent fall in sales to 14.5 billion euros during the first half this year from 17.4 billion euros in the same period in 2008. (dpa)