Volkswagen and Bavarian Motor Works or BMW AG topped the European Automakers’ US sales gains for the month of June due to the demand for small cars as well as luxury sport sedans.

Sales for the 15 European automakers in the U.S. rose 2.9 percent to 103,360 vehicles, according to Autodata Corp. of Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey. US-based automakers including General Motors Corp. posted a 13 percent decline.

“Even though throughout the first half there was a month or two when some of the Europeans saw sales declining, overall the trend is strong,” Wes Brown, an analyst at Los Angeles- based market researcher Iceology Inc., said yesterday in an interview. “Luxury-branded products in every industry are doing well, especially in the automotive world.”

Gains for Germany’s Volkswagen and BMW in the US helped them weather a drop in their home market. The German car makers association yesterday lowered its 2007 domestic forecast after a sales-tax increase led to a 9 percent slump in first-half sales.

“The US market is particularly interesting for us,” Matthias Wissman, the VDA car makers association president, said in an interview. “We are well positioned in the US market.”

European brands’ US market share advanced 0.4 percentage point to 7.1 percent in June. Asian automakers boosted their share by 5.4 points to a record 42.7 percent while their U.S. rivals fell to 50.3 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The US automakers’ share was a record low.

Volkswagen, Europe’s largest car maker, said that its namesake brand’s US sales climbed 15 percent in June as well, helped by demand for the Eos, Jetta and Rabbit small cars. First-half sales slipped 1 percent, the Wolfsburg, Germany-based company said.

On the other hand, BMW, the world’s largest luxury automaker, said U.S. vehicle sales rose 6 percent, pushing the brand’s first-half increase to 4.5 percent. The June and first-half brand sales both set records. Sales of the Munich-based company’s 3-Series sport sedan rose 21 percent.

Porsche, whose U.S. sales account for more than a third of total sales, said demand for its vehicles rose 14 percent in June in the U.S., helped by an updated version of the Cayenne SUV. The Stuttgart, Germany-based company said year-to-date sales fell 4 percent. Other European luxury brands including DaimlerChrysler AG’s Mercedes-Benz posted declines. Mercedes-Benz sales fell 5.8 percent, according to Stuttgart-based DaimlerChrysler, which is poised to sell its Chrysler unit to Cerberus Capital Management LP. DaimlerChrysler is the world’s second-largest maker of luxury cars.

Audi, VW’s luxury-car unit based in Ingolstadt, Germany, said U.S. sales slipped 3.1 percent in June. Shares of DaimlerChrysler added 19 cents to 68.61 euros in trading in Frankfurt yesterday. BMW shares climbed 65 cents to 48.40 euros. Shares of VW rose 3.5 euros to 120.60 euros, and shares of Porsche increased 33.03 euros to 1380 euros. (News release courtesy of Bloomberg.com)

Volkswagen has reportedly experienced an increase in its commercial vehicles division sales to customers by an impressive 7.6 percent which translates to a record of 231,500 vehicles in the first half of 2007.

This was partly due to the growing demand in their Brazil division for the heavy trucks sales, which was said to increase nearly a quarter to about 21,750 vehicles, which was a commendable figure compared to last year’s 17,700. But apart from this surge of growth in the Brazilian units, the division was also said to improve to an all-time high mainly because of its 7.4 gain in sales of its smallest model, the Caddy delivery van.

It was made known that Volkswagen was planning to fold the group’s Brazilian heavy trucks unit—and possibly its entire commercial vehicle division into a combined MAN-Scania entity, which was said to become Europe’s truck market leader. Demands rose for its larger Transporter models which earned a gain of 3.7 percent, as well as its Crafter models which gained 1.5 percent.

MAN’s unsolicited 10 billion-euro ($13.6 billion) takeover bid for Scania collapsed in January this year due mainly to opposition from Investor to a hostile buyout of the fiercely independent Scania. Any deal would require above all the approval of the Wallenberg industrial family of Sweden, which controls through Investor AB the second largest stake in Scania with roughly 20 percent of the votes.

However, shares in Volkswagen slid 0.4 percent lower, in line with the DJ Stoxx European auto sector index.

Volkswagen of America has announced that the Jetta and the GTI have each earned a J.D. Power and Associates APEAL Award for 2007. The J.D. Power and Associates 2007 Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout or APEAL Study is aimed towards measuring owner delight with the design, content, layout, and performance of their new vehicles.

“These awards and our overall rankings show that Volkswagen builds compelling, quality vehicles that our customers love to drive,” said Adrian Hallmark, executive vice president, Volkswagen of America in an interview. “Our vehicles strike a strong emotional chord with owners.”

According to the study, new or redesigned products with a high APEAL score generally command a higher gross profit and sell more quickly.

The Jetta topped the vehicle in the compact car segment, which was followed by the all-new Rabbit which placed second. The redesigned GTI topped the compact sporty car segment, while the all-new EOS placed third. Never to be left out, the Passat also came in a close second in the competitive mid-size car segment.

The 2007 APEAL Study was conducted through a survey, and the responses gathered between February and May 2007 from more than 91,000 purchasers and lessees of new 2007 model-year cars and trucks who were surveyed after the first 90 days of ownership were used as reference.

Founded in 1955, Volkswagen of America, Inc. is headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany. Volkswagen is one of the world’s largest producers of passenger cars and Europe’s largest automaker. Volkswagen sells the Rabbit, New Beetle, New Beetle convertible, GTI, Jetta, GLI, Passat, Passat wagon, Eos, and Touareg through approximately 600 independent U. S. dealers.