Audi aims to overtake rivals by 2010 in Europe -paper

Published: 01 Mar 2009 18:08:22 PST

FRANKFURT, March 1 (Reuters) - Volkswagen AG's (VOWG.DE) luxury unit Audi aims to sell more cars than its rivals Mercedes-Benz of Daimler (DAIGn.DE) and BMW (BMWG.DE) by 2010 in Europe, Audi marketing head Peter Schwarzenbauer told a German newspaper.

"In terms of unit sales, we will already be ahead of our major competitors in Europe in 2010," he said in an early release of Handelsblatt's Monday edition.

In the U.S, he said, Audi would increase its marketing expenditure by 15-20 percent despite the recession there.

He said he expected a 10 percent decline in Audi sales this year to 900,000 units, but he expected the fall would be far more at Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

Audi has said it wants to increase its unit sales to 1.5 million cars by 2015. (Reporting by Marilyn Gerlach, editing by Will Waterman)