Audi closer to Mercedes and BMW in new-car sales

Audi AG has closed within 44,100 units of Mercedes-Benz in global sales after 11 months. This is a remarkable development considering that a year ago, the gap that separated Mercedes-Benz, a unit of Daimler AG, and Audi, a Volkswagen AG subsidiary, was 114,611 units sold.

Audi was also able to halve the distance between it and premium-car sales leader BMW brand. BMW may have led Audi by 184,294 units a year ago but last month the gap had narrowed to 93,112. Despite Audi’s gains, which are supported by increasing sales in China, it is still in third place in global sales. Continued after the jump!

In November, BMW brand sold 90,383 units, an 11.1% increase compared to the same month last year. Meanwhile, Mercedes’ volume rose 19.1% to 88,600 units and Audi posted an 8.9% rise to 82,750. Audi, which is the top-selling premium brand in China, had its volume last month increased 101.9% to 16,503 cars.

From January to November, Audi has sold a company-record 139,872 cars in China, a 28.6% increase. BMW credits its November sales increase on strong demand for its Z4 roadster and 7 series upper-premium car. Z4’s November sales were up 149.3 percent to 1,760 compared with November 2008.

On the other hand, sales of the 7 series rose 57.1 percent in the month to 5,025 units. The sales increase of Mercedes last month, was led by the increase of the E-Class medium-premium sedan. Mercedes says the car’s global retail sales volume doubled to 15,700 last month.