VW sales hit record at more than 8m German carmakers were the toast of the Detroit auto show as Volkswagen announced it had achieved more than 8m vehicle sales for the first time, overtaking rival Toyota, while BMW maintained its position as the world's biggest premium carmaker by sales. VW, whose stable of brands includes Audi, Skoda and Bentley, delivered 8.16m vehicles in 2011, a 14 per cent increase on the previous year, putting the Wolfsburg-based carmaker within sight of becoming the world's biggest carmaker. BMW also posted a 14 per cent rise in sales to reach an annual total of 1.67m sales of its BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce vehicles, keeping it ahead of Audi and Daimler's Mercedes-Benz as the top-selling producer of high-end vehicles. However, Audi gained ground on BMW after it increased annual sales by a record 19 per cent to 1.3m. German carmakers put aside worries about another eurozone recession and turmoil in financial markets last year and smashed sales records thanks to strong demand in emerging markets for upmarket vehicles. BMW's luxury Rolls-Royce unit which is based in Goodwood in southern England, sold a record 3,538 vehicles last year, an increase of 31 per cent on 2010. Rolls-Royce's sales in the Asia-Pacific region jumped 47 per cent and China was the brand's largest single market. "We had an outstanding year in 2011, and we should take a moment to reflect on this Great British success story," said Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Rolls-Royce chief executive. Last week, rival UK luxury carmaker Bentley, which is owned by VW, reported its best annual sales since 2007. Similarly, Porsche, the German sports car maker that VW hopes to integrate as its eleventh brand, increased sales by 22 per cent last year, helped by a 65 per cent jump in Chinese sales. VW plans to sell annually a total of 10m vehicles by 2018, and thereby accelerate past Toyota and General Motors to become the world's biggest carmaker by sales. It has already - at least temporarily - left Toyota in its slipstream as the Japanese carmaker's sales were hit last year by Japan's earthquake and tsunami and by flooding in Thailand. Toyota expects sales to rebound strongly this year, however. GM's headline sales figures as recorded by OICA, the industry association, are expected to exceed VW's total in 2011. Some analysts argue that VW is now the largest carmaker, however, if vehicles made by a GM Chinese joint venture are excluded. Still, Christian Klingler, head of sales at VW, cautioned in a note that "a very challenging year lies ahead" because "the risks on European markets in particular will multiply in 2012." Analysts believe that German carmakers are better positioned to withstand these pressures than rival mass-market producers. "In 2012 we expect to see falling sales volumes to have a negative effect on all [carmakers] bar BMW and VW," said Arndt Ellinghorst at Credit Suisse. Globalisation of demand and the emergence of wealth in emerging markets have widened the gap between global players with strong brand equity and weak domestically-dependent brands.