Volkswagen, Audi Sales Up 11% on China Boom

German car maker Volkswagen AG said Friday that its group deliveries were up 11 percent on the year in October, helped by strong increases in China and Brazil and a smaller rise in the U.S.

Volkswagen said the group delivered 557,300 cars last month, compared with 501,500 in October 2008. As well as the core VW brand, the company sells models including Audi, Lamborghini and Bentley cars.

Wolfsburg-based Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest car maker by sales, also reported a 0.6 percent year-on-year improvement in deliveries in the January-October period.

The number of cars delivered rose to 5.32 million from 5.29 million in the first 10 months of 2008.

“Overall developments are better than expected thanks to our market leadership in Germany, the growth markets of China and Brazil, and to our young and environmentally friendly product range,” VW sales and marketing official Detlef Wittig said.

“Strong order books make us quietly optimistic about the coming months,” he added. “However, global passenger car markets have not made a sustained recovery yet, so we are anticipating a particularly difficult and challenging year in 2010.”

The company said the group reported strong growth in the German market, where deliveries grew 26 percent, while Europe as a whole saw sales improve 1.2 percent. In China, sales were up 64 percent overall and Brazil reported a near 10 percent increase.

Volkswagen said group deliveries in the U.S. totaled 24,500 cars for the month, a 4.2 percent increase from the previous October’s 23,500.

The company said demand for Audi A5 series of limousines and the Q5 SUV, as well as the Volkswagen Jetta and Passat CC, was particularly high in the U.S.

VW said the Volkswagen brand alone saw a 17 percent increase in October, delivering 349,800 cars — up from 299,000 a year earlier.

The core brand’s sales were up 57 percent to 100,300 in China, while deliveries increased by 22 percent in Brazil to 54,000 cars.

The company said Audi saw its global sales improve 0.4 percent in October to 82,800 cars, with strong growth in China.

The Skoda brand saw deliveries rise 33 percent to 65,600 cars. The Seat brand delivered 29,600 cars, a 1.9 percent increase.

Shares of VW were about 3.5 percent lower at €94.82 ($140.95) in Frankfurt morning trading.

11/13/2009 5:53 AM GEORGE FREY, AP Business Writer FRANKFURT