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 Deliveries at Volkswagen's flagship division rose 6.4 percent to
159,950 cars and sport-utility vehicles, the company said on
Thursday, the best-ever September result for Audi but still falling
short of its competitor.
Mercedes-Benz sold 162,746 models, the best-ever month for sales in
its 88-year history and a 14 percent gain on year-ago levels,
benefiting from the release of new models and surging demand in
China.
Audi, which eclipsed Mercedes-Benz in 2011 to become the world's No.
2 premium automaker behind BMW, has seen its sales lead over
the Daimler division shrink to 103,494 cars after nine months,
compared with 118,110 a year ago.
While Mercedes-Benz is enjoying strong demand for a spate of
redesigned models, including the E-Class and the flagship S-Class
saloon, Audi has pushed planned overhauls of its top-selling A4
model and the Q7 SUV into 2015.
"Mercedes will catch up further with BMW and Audi in coming months,
they simply got the freshest product line-up," said Frankfurt-based
Commerzbank analyst Sascha Gommel.
Still, Audi has a goal of boosting full-year sales to above 1.7
million vehicles from last year's record 1.58 million, relying on
momentum in China and EurSTATope where it leads the premium segment.
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Mercedes-Benz has a goal of pushing brand deliveries above last
year's record 1.46 million cars. Both brands are vying to snatch the
global luxury-sales crown from BMW by the end of the decade.
The Munich-based manufacturer, whose eight-month brand deliveries
were up 9.5 percent to 1.15 million cars, is also expected to
publish September sales this week.
(Reporting by Andreas Cremer; Editing by Maria Sheahan and Susan
Thomas)
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