Audi boosts global sales forecast for '11
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FRANKFURT -- Audi AG has increased its worldwide sales forecast for 2011 to 1.3 million units, up 100,000 because of brisk sales in the first eight months, said Peter Schwarzenbauer, board member for sales and marketing.
Audi sold 1.1 million vehicles worldwide last year and originally forecast 2011 sales of 1.2 million, Schwarzenbauer said.
Audi's higher-than-expected sales means the brand will grow to 1.5 million vehicles sooner than 2015, its initial target, he said.
Audi is on track to pass Mercedes this year as the second-best-selling premium brand worldwide. BMW has held the sales crown since 2005.
In the United States, Audi sold 101,629 vehicles in 2010. In the first eight months of this year, Audi sold 75,256 vehicles in the United States, up 15 percent from the same period in 2010. Total U.S. light-vehicle sales rose 11 percent in the period.
Most of the growth in the United States was in the larger car segment. The A8, A7 and A6 accounted for 24 percent of Audi's passenger-car sales through August, up from 13 percent in the year-earlier period.
Schwarzenbauer said China will become Audi's biggest market in 2011, overtaking Germany.
You can reach Diana T. Kurylko at dkurylko@crain.com. -- Follow Diana on 
