Audi sells fewer cars than Mercedes as competition intensifies

Deliveries at Volkswagen's flagship division rose 6.4 percent to 159,950 cars and sport-utility vehicles, the company said on Thursday, the best-ever September result for Audi but still falling short of its competitor.

Mercedes-Benz sold 162,746 models, the best-ever month for sales in its 88-year history and a 14 percent gain on year-ago levels, benefiting from the release of new models and surging demand in China.

Audi, which eclipsed Mercedes-Benz in 2011 to become the world's No. 2 premium automaker behind BMW , has seen its sales lead over the Daimler division shrink to 103,494 cars after nine months, compared with 118,110 a year ago.

While Mercedes-Benz is enjoying strong demand for a spate of redesigned models, including the E-Class and the flagship S-Class saloon, Audi has pushed planned overhauls of its top-selling A4 model and the Q7 SUV into 2015.

"Mercedes will catch up further with BMW and Audi in coming months, they simply got the freshest product line-up," said Frankfurt-based Commerzbank analyst Sascha Gommel.

Still, Audi has a goal of boosting full-year sales to above 1.7 million vehicles from last year's record 1.58 million, relying on momentum in China and EurSTATope where it leads the premium segment.

Mercedes-Benz has a goal of pushing brand deliveries above last year's record 1.46 million cars. Both brands are vying to snatch the global luxury-sales crown from BMW by the end of the decade.

The Munich-based manufacturer, whose eight-month brand deliveries were up 9.5 percent to 1.15 million cars, is also expected to publish September sales this week.

(Reporting by Andreas Cremer; Editing by Maria Sheahan and Susan Thomas)