Audi, the premium car brand of Volkswagen, posted record sales in 2011 as demand for luxury cars in China and Russia helped it gain ground on bigger rivals like BMW and Daimler's Mercedes-Benz; Reuters reported. Audi on Monday unveiled sales growth of 19.2 percent for last year, outpacing 12.8 percent for the BMW brand and 8.0 percent at Daimler's luxury brand. The VW unit sold 1.30 million cars in the year, compared with 1.38 million BMWs and 1.26 million at Mercedes-Benz. Audi wants to dethrone BMW as the world's number one premium car maker by 2015 through powering ahead in China and the United States, the world's biggest luxury car market. BMW is betting on the same thing and believes demand in these two key markets will keep it ahead of the pack. BMW finance chief Friedrich Eichiner said last week he expected the global market for premium cars to grow at more than 8 percent this year, more than twice as fast as the overall car market. -- SPA
