BMW Widens Global Luxury-Car Sales Lead

BMW AG reports it boosted worldwide sales 26% from a year earlier to 145,500 cars and SUVs in November.

The gain expands BMW's lead over Volkswagen AG's Audi brand in the 2012 global luxury-vehicle sales race to about 50,000 units.

Audi hiked deliveries 11% to 123,600 vehicles last month. Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz Cars unit increased sales 6% to 120,300 units.

In the January-November period, sales have advanced 11% to 1.39 million vehicles at BMW, 13% to 1.34 million units at Audi and 5% to 1.19 million at Mercedes. All three brands expect to post record-high annual sales this year.

Audi and BMW are benefiting from rising demand in China and the U.S. in 2012, which is more than offsetting weakness in Europe. Mercedes is falling behind its rivals because of slower growth in China.