GERMAN auto-maker Audi says it delivered approximately 91,400 cars worldwide in July, showing a 7.7 per cent increase in unit sales, compared to last year-to-date.

Sales also climbed over the seven-month period to July as the company posted sales records in China and on the US market.

For the period January through July, the sales total reached around 646,300 units, a 17.4 per cent increase on the corresponding period of 2009, Audi AG said in a release.

“In July we more than tripled sales of our imported models in China compared with July 2009, to 3,696 units,” said Peter Schwarzenbauer, board member responsible for marketing and sales at AUDI AG.

“We’re therefore successfully implementing our strategy of significantly increasing the share that imported models have of our total sales.”

For the year so far, sales of imported models in China went up to 19,590 cars, a rise of over 149 per cent compared with the prior-year period (2009: 7,862 units).

Audi also posted record figures in the US, selling 22 per cent more cars in July 2010 than in the previous year. From January through July, 56,257 US customers opted for one of Audi’s premium cars, 27.1 per cent more than in the prior-year period and more than ever before in this period, Audi reported.

In Western Europe deliveries in July were 8.9 per cent below those of the strong corresponding period last year.

According to Audi, in summer 2009 the state environmental bonus in Germany and several Western European countries had resulted in extra business and pull-forward effects.

Audi reported that in the first seven months of the current year the auto-company sold approximately 369,900 vehicles in Western Europe, an increase of 3.6 per cent on the same period last year. But the company is banking on its compact Audi A1, which will hit the market this month to refresh Western Europe sales.

“The Audi A1, which we will be launching in late August, will provide fresh impetus for our business in Western Europe,” said Schwarzenbauer.