FRANKFURT, GERMANY – Group sales at BMW rose 7.4 percent to 141,952 units in September, outselling rival Volkswagen AG's Audi brand and Daimler's Mercedes Car Group division, according to Reuters.

The group's core BMW nameplate boosted sales 3.5 percent last month to 118,027 units, for a rise of 6.3 percent to 929,379 in the first nine months of the year, according to the company.

Deliveries of its Mini brand jumped 31 percent from the year-earlier month to 23,805, helping nine-month sales rise 12 percent to 164,891. BMW said it aims to sell more than 220,000 Mini cars this year.

Cumulative group sales, which also include the Rolls Royce premium brand, grew to 1.09 million units in the first three quarters of the year, a rise of 7.2 percent.

Audi achieved global unit sales of about 740,000 vehicles in the first nine months of the year, Chief Executive Rupert Stadler told German trade journal Automobilwoche.

Mercedes Car Group said sales rose 7.4 percent in September to 124,600 vehicles, taking the total for the first nine months of the year to 942,300.