Audi overcomes Mercedes Benz in global sales

PanARMENIAN.Net - Audi AG overtook Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz as the world’s second biggest premium-car brand after BMW AG in 2011 as it became the latest German luxury auto company to report record sales on booming demand in China and the U.S.

Audi, a unit of Volkswagen AG, said Monday it sold about 1,302,650 cars last year, beating by more than 210,200 cars its previous record set in 2010. It cited demand for its full-size models as a significant factor behind the rise.

China became Audi’s biggest single market for the first time as sales jumped 37% to 313,036, it said in a statement. Sales in the U.S. rose 16%. They climbed 12% in Europe.

Mercedes-Benz said last week that its sales rose 8% to 1,260,912 cars, also a record. Including the smart and Maybach brands, it sold 1.36 million cars, about 77,000 more than the previous record set in 2007.

BMW’s namesake brand sold 1.38 million cars, up 13% from 2010. With its Mini and Rolls Royce brands, total sales rose 14% to a record 1.67 million units. BMW dethroned Mercedes-Benz as the leader among premium car makers in 2005.

The data come as all three companies are showcase their latest models the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Audi’s parent Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest auto maker by sales, said it delivered nearly 8.22 million cars and trucks in 2011. Passenger car sales rose 14% to 8.16 million.

Volkswagen aims to sell 10 million vehicles a year by 2018 at the latest and outpace General Motors Co. and Toyota Motors Corp. to become the world’s No. 1 auto maker. Volkswagen is investing heavily in ramping up production capacity in China, Russia, India and the U.S., The Wall Street Journal reported.