German auto brands Audi (NSUG.DE), Mercedes-Benz (DAIGn.DE) and Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) posted double-digit sales increases in 2010, driven by China and the United States as well as a rebound in demand for large cars.
Volkswagen said on Friday VW brand car sales rose by 13.9 percent year-on-year, while Audi sold 15 percent more cars and Mercedes-Benz brand vehicle sales were up 15.3 percent.
China helped boost demand for large, higher margin vehicles, while for some auto makers, sales of smaller vehicles failed to keep pace.
For Stuttgart-based Daimler, Mercedes-Benz S-Class sales jumped 25 percent, while sales of the ultra compact Smart-branded cars fell 17 percent during the same period, as incentive scrappage schemes came to an end in Germany.
For Volkswagen-owned Audi, sales grew only 0.1 percent in Germany, its home market, in a year when it launched the compact A1 vehicle to rival BMW's (BMWG.DE) Mini.
China, which eclipsed the U.S. as the world's top auto market in 2009, once again emerged as a major bright spot amid a global industry still recovering from a steep downturn.
Top European automaker Volkswagen sold 37 percent more vehicles in mainland China and Hong Kong last year and pledged to invest 10.6 billion euros ($13.8 billion) in the country through 2015.
NEW MODEL
Audi saw 2010 sales in the Asian country rise by 43 percent, while Mercedes-Benz brand unit sales more than doubled and Volkswagen brand vehicle sales jumped 35.5 percent.
Audi plans to introduce the company's new A1 model to China in the subcompact's first generation, possibly as early as 2012, its chairman Rupert Stadler told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper in an interview released on the paper's Internet site, ahead of publication on Saturday.
Last month, BMW said China's luxury car market would grow between 20 percent and 30 percent in 2011, in a year when tax incentives on purchases of cars with 1.6 liter engines or smaller end.
Germany's top car makers also remain bullish on sales prospects in the U.S., where the market rebounded in 2010. Audi registered a 23 percent rise, while Mercedes-Benz sales gained 14 percent and Volkswagen sales rose 20.3 percent.
Audi hopes to further boost U.S. sales by offering next generation diesel cars in the executive range such as the A6 and A8 limousines.
Rival Daimler is confident about 2011 thanks to a competitive product range and a raft of new launches, Daimler Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche said in a statement on Friday.
Earlier in the week, Daimler's Mercedes-Benz USA CEO Ernst Lieb said: "Despite the challenges of a slow recovery, we see good indicators in terms of our sales volume throughout the model range."
The news from Europe was less positive. Volkswagen said its 2010 sales fell 1.2 percent in Europe, while Audi's deliveries in Germany remained flat as the scrappage scheme was phased out, although the luxury carmaker's December sales rose 18.2 percent in Europe as a whole.
Volvo Cars on Friday said separately its sales rose 11.2 percent to 373,525 vehicles in 2010 thanks to higher demand in the domestic Swedish market and also in China.
China's Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (0175.HK) completed its acquisition of Volvo on August 2, 2010.
