audi Audi outsells BMW in April

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(Reuters) - Volkswagen's (VOWG_p.DE) luxury car brand Audi outsold market leader BMW (BMWG.DE) for the first time in more than a year in April as continued high demand from China, the United States and Russia boosted vehicle sales.

Deliveries of Audi cars and sport-utility vehicles increased 14.4 percent in April to 125,200, the company said on Wednesday. Sales of BMW brand models rose 7.4 percent, about half of Audi's pace, to 121,476 cars.

Audi has narrowed the gap with BMW on year-to-date deliveries, which rose 11.7 percent to 471,300. That compares with a 10.1 percent gain to 478,030 vehicles at its Munich-based rival. A spokeswoman for Audi said monthly sales at the VW unit last surpassed BMW in January 2011.

Audi is vying with Daimler's (DAIGn.DE) Mercedes-Benz division, which it surpassed on sales last year, to grab the sales lead in luxury autos by the end of the decade. The VW unit has a goal of doubling deliveries to about 2 million by 2020.

"Audi will remain the No. 1 challenger to BMW over the next four to five years," said Frank Schwope, an analyst with NordLB in Hanover. "They're firmly rooted in lucrative markets and benefit greatly from VW resources."

In Russia alone, Audi became the number one premium brand in Q1 2012 surpassing BMW and Benz for the first time!

[citan]

Interesting, thogh IMO BMW makes better cars - i drove an A4 and A6 a few weeks ago, and compared them to the new 3 series and 5 from BMW, I drive a BMW 5 myself - and i think it's better than the A6. At least the 2011 models are. And for Mercedes, well it's no surprise Audi surpassed them - I didn't like the new E series - I was test driving it for a few weeks.