Volkswagen said its sales on the mainland and in Hong Kong climbed 18% last year to a record, led by deliveries of Lavida and Sagitar and demand for Audi luxury cars. The VW group, which also owns the Skoda and Bentley brands, sold 2.26 million vehicles in the two markets. General Motors, the biggest foreign carmaker in China, increased sales in the nation by 8.3% last year to a record 2.55 million vehicles. China is now the largest market for VW, its premium Audi brand and luxury Lamborghini. “Although we expect tougher conditions for the car industry to come, we want to maintain our leading market position in China,” said Karl-Thomas Neumann, Chief Executive of VW’s China operations. “We see a great potential for an expansion in China’s rural areas where millions of people will benefit from better mobility.” Growth in vehicle demand is expected to accelerate this year to about 9.5%, or about 15.87 million units, from the 5.2% pace last year. Car sales rose 33% in 2010 and 53% in 2009. The German carmaker sold 1.72 million of its main Volkswagen brand cars in China, an increase of 14% from a year earlier. This amounts to 34% of the brand’s global deliveries of 5.1 million vehicles last year. Audi increased sales on the mainland and in Hong Kong by 37% to a record 313,000 vehicles last year, the company said. It became Audi’s largest market globally last year. Audi boosted deliveries of imported cars such as the Q7 sport-utility vehicle (SUV) and the Audi A8L. The carmaker also sold more domestically produced A4L and A6L cars, whose wheelbases were extended to meet the needs of chauffeur-driven Chinese buyers. VW, which has joint ventures with FAW Group and SAIC Motor, was the first foreign carmaker allowed to produce cars in China. The company has said it would add a seventh factory in China as part of plans to invest €14 billion to expand production and models by 2016, the South China Morning Post reports.