BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's BMW (>> Bayerische Motoren Werke AG) increased sales of its luxury-brand vehicles by 4 percent in March to 159,195 autos, its single highest monthly sales tally ever.

BMW brand deliveries rose 7 percent in the first quarter to a record 381,404 vehicles, powered by "solid" gains in the United States and China, the Munich-based company said on Tuesday in an emailed statement.

By comparison, luxury rival Audi (>> Volkswagen AG) maintained its lead over Mercedes-Benz (>> Daimler AG), boosting first-quarter sales 6.8 percent to a record 369,500 vehicles, the VW-owned brand said Monday.

That compares with a 3.5 percent gain at Daimler's flagship division to 324,898 cars. Audi's quarterly deliveries in China surged 14.2 percent to 102,810 vehicles while Mercedes slumped by almost the same margin, or 11.5 percent, to 45,440.

(Reporting by Andreas Cremer; Editing by Christoph Steitz)

Stocks treated in this article : Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, Daimler AG, Volkswagen AG