Global VW sales surge

In October, auto maker Volkswagen delivered nearly 15 percent more cars to customers as sales jumped to 788,700 vehicles in the month, compared with 688,00 a year earlier.

Releasing its latest company figures on Friday, the German car group said that the surge in October caused global sales in the first ten months of 2012 to soar to 7.5 million cars, which was 10 percent more than in the same period last year.

October sales brought the 12-brand VW car group closer to its 2012 sales target of 9 million cars, and marks substantial progress in efforts to overtake General Motors as the world's biggest carmaker.

Demand for VW cars was especially strong in the world's biggest car market, China, Volkswagen said, where sales increased 19.6 percent to 2.3 million cars until the end of October. In addition, US demand remained strong with deliveries a third higher at 480,000 vehicles, while Russians bought 262,000 VW cars, driving up sales by 47 percent.

The overseas boom helped Volkswagen compensate a 6-percent drop in crisis-stricken western European markets, where the German carmaker was able to sell just 1.57 million cars. In its German home market though, VW gained 3.5 percent in the first ten months of 2012.

Carmaker Audi, VW's more attainable top-of-the-range brand below performance carmakers Porsche and Lamborghini, appears to be adding most to the record-setting year. The company reigns supreme in the group's internal sales ranking with a plus of 12.9 percent, ahead of Czech carmaker Skoda which has increased sales by 11.2 percent so far this year.

uhe/msh (Reuters, AP, dpa)