Audi outsold by BMW, Mercedes in August amid China woes

• Audi sales up 2.7% to record 128,650 cars
• Chinese sales drop eases to 4.1% from 12.5% in July
• Mercedes outsells Audi, BMW for second month

Reuters: Audi sold fewer cars in August than luxury rivals BMW and Mercedes-Benz as Volkswagen’s flagship brand has been harder hit by falling demand in China than its German peers.

Audi said last week that its total sales rose 2.7% last month from a year earlier to a record 128,650 cars and sport-utility vehicles, helped by double-digit growth in Germany and the United States.

Its sales year-to-date were up 3.4% at a record 1.18 million.

Growth in August compared with gains of 7.6% for BMW - the world’s biggest maker of luxury cars by annual sales - to 135,735 vehicles, and Mercedes saw 17.6% growth to 139,802 cars, outselling its two rivals for a second straight month.

Chinese deliveries at Audi, which leads the premium segment in the world’s largest auto market, fell for a fourth month but the decline eased to 4.1% from 12.5% in July.

China’s car market could post the first drop in volume this year since taking off in the late 1990s, the country’s auto industry association said on Thursday, after posting a 3% decline in August to 1.7 million vehicles.

Audi is counting on momentum from the launch of more than 10 new models in China through mid-2016, but - unlike BMW and Mercedes - has shied away from forecasting full-year deliveries in its key market which last year accounted for a third of its global sales.