FRANKFURT, GERMANY - German auto maker Audi, part of the Volkswagen group, said on Monday that October sales had risen while sales by rivals slumped but that it too would reduce output in December.

Audi said in a statement that sales had increased by seven percent to more than 82,000 vehicles last month, a result that ran counter to rivals BMW or Daimler which saw sales slump by eight percent and 18 percent respectively.

Since January, Audi sales have gained 3.3% to 845,000 automobiles, and the group confirmed its 2008 target of more than one million cars.

"Audi is performing well, but our corporate performance is increasingly influenced by declining markets," the statement quoted chairman Rupert Stadler as saying.

As a result, "in some areas of production we will take advantage of the Christmas period to manoeuvre carefully into 2009," he added.

Two Audi plants in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm would :align production to individual levels of demand," Stadler said.