Audi, Porsche and Bentley sold more cars than ever as the Volkswagen AG luxury divisions rolled out new models to tap rising demand from the world’s wealthy.
Audi’s deliveries last year rose 8.3 percent to 1.58 million cars and sport-utility vehicles, helped by revamps of the A3 compact, the company said Thursday in a statement. Porsche posted a 15 percent jump to 162,145 deliveries as demand for the Boxster roadster and related Cayman sports car more than doubled. Bentley’s sales surged 19 percent to 10,120 autos.
Luxury-auto sales have outpaced mass-market vehicle delivery gains as incomes rise in countries such as China, India and Russia, and spending bounces back in the U.S. Wolfsburg, Germany-based Volkswagen is adding models such as Bentley’s first SUV and Porsche’s Macan crossover in a strategy to overtake Toyota Motor Corp. and General Motors Co. as the car industry’s biggest seller by 2018 while increasing earnings.
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