BMW has been enjoying increasing success on the US market as in August it beat Toyota’s Lexus brand sales for the third month in a row. This makes for some very stiff competition among the luxury German brands as Mercedes also has a strong foothold and Audi looks to try and develop a plan that will increase its brand presence in the US. While Volkswagen might be looking to be the number one manufacturer in the world, any possibility in becoming a number premium brand car maker will fall on the shoulders of Audi and the recently acquired Porsche.

It’s not all bad news though, for Audi as incredible sales have been registered in China. Alongside Mercedes-Benz, the two brands shared significant slices of the market and enjoyed record sales. Audi sales this year are up 63 percent and Mercedes’ are up 129 percent, although the latter still trails Audi in terms of numbers, selling 13,400 units in August to Audi’s 22,350.

Aside from the numbers, we can see some very impressive brand appeal for Audi in China as that market will actually out-sell Germany before long. It’s an achievement that Audi doesn’t seem to be able to replicate in the US with the premium brand club in North America ruled by BMW and Audi sales up by 14 percent this year. More after the jump.

While that’s still an increase, it would be interesting to see a breakdown from Volkswagen to understand just how much it plans to play the premium field, and exactly what part of its world manufacturing domination scheme it plans Audi will occupy. Porsche has seen an increase in 33 percent so if we were to put the two together, things might not be so grim. Still, Volkswagen makes a lot of different kinds of cars, and it hasn’t actually said how much its premium brands might be part of its production increases.

It may even come down to a race between the Chinese and US market in which case Volkswagen might win against BMW just on pure numbers. Playing the Chinese market game is not silly if VAG just wants numbers to boost its manufacturing. Meanwhile BMW is focusing on the US, stating its goal is to become the number one luxury brand on that market by 2012. It’s a tough fight and one that might see Chinese supremacy reign.

Source | Automotive News here and here

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