UPDATE 1-Emerging markets spur Volkswagen H1 sales growth

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FRANKFURT, July 12 (Reuters) - Volkswagen (VOWG.DE), the world's fourth-largest carmaker, increased vehicle sales in the first half by 7.8 percent to 3.09 million units thanks to strong growth in Asia and South America, the company said on Thursday.

Sales of its core VW brand rose 7.4 percent to 1.8 million vehicles during the period, while its Spanish SEAT brand suffered a 1.8 percent drop to 222,000 cars.

Volkswagen has already published sales figures for its Audi and Skoda passenger car brands, as well as its VW commercial vehicles division.

It also said that its super-luxury Bentley brand enjoyed a sales gain of almost 19 percent to over 5,600 vehicles while the exotic sports car maker Lamborghini sold more than 1,200 units for a rise of nearly 30 percent.

On a regional basis, growth came almost entirely from emerging markets, since the group stagnated in western Europe as deliveries in its domestic German market fell 3.7 percent. North American sales increased just 3.1 percent.

By comparison, Volkswagen posted strong results in Asia/Pacific, where group sales grew by 20.9 percent to 502,000 units, and in South America, where the company sold 339,000 vehicles for a rise of 27.7 percent.

The clear improvement in the two regions stemmed mainly from strong performances in key markets China and Brazil.

Shares in Volkswagen had risen 1.1 percent to 122.10 euros by 1208 GMT, performing slightly better than the DJ Stoxx European autos index .SXAP.

((Reporting by Christiaan Hetzner, editing by Rory Channing; E-mail: christiaan.hetzner@reuters.com; +49 69 7565 1249)) Keywords: VOLKSWAGEN SALES/

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