Audi Bucks Trend, To Report Rise In November Sales

Sales by German automaker Audi rose 0.

4 percent last month, the company said on Monday, demonstrating that the Volkswagen division had bucked the prevailing sector slump.

For the January-November period, the high-end unit of Europe's largest auto company, said sales rose 3.0 percent from a year earlier to 920,700.

A statement quoted board member Peter Schwarzenbauer as saying Audi had coped well "thanks to its young and attractive model range," while noting that "unfavourable background conditions in all sales regions are presenting a great challenge."

Audi has recently revamped models like its A4 and has a relatively small presence in the United States, which has helped it to weather a debacle there better than many rivals.

BMW said last week that its sales had fallen by 25 percent in November, with its 11-month figures down 3.5 percent at 1.11 million vehicles.

Philipp von Sahr, head of the luxury icon's German operations, told the daily Tagesspiegel on Monday: "BMW is not in crisis," though he added that "at the global level, we are not going to reach last year's figures" in 2008.

Daimler, meanwhile, has reported 11-month sales of 1.03 million cars, down 4.0 percent.