DETROIT, Jan 8 Volkswagen's VOWG.DE premium unit Audi NSUG.DE expects to

DETROIT, Jan 8 (Reuters) Volkswagen's premium unit Audi expects to post new records for revenue and earnings for 2006 after racking up its 11th straight best ever annual sales result, the company said.

''Along with the sales figures, 2006 will certainly be an absolute record also in terms of other results,'' new Audi chief Rupert Stadler said at the North American International Auto Show, without going further into detail.

In 2005, the Ingolstadt-based carmaker reported a 15 percent gain in pretax profit to 1.31 billion euros ($1.72 billion) after revenue rose 8.5 percent to 26.59 billion.

He pointed to the increase in the average value of vehicles sold due to more expensive options and feature packages, more powerful motors and the launch of the new full-size Q7 sport utility vehicle.

New models helped lift deliveries to customers last year by 9.2 percent to 905,100 vehicles, marking a pace that outperformed larger rival brands Mercedes-Benz with 6.5 percent and BMW with 5.2 percent.

''We're on the best path to becoming the most successful premium carmaker in the world by 2015,'' Stadler said.

In order to catch up with Mercedes and BMW, Audi first targets sales of 1 million vehicles by 2008, before increasing deliveries to 1.4 million units by 2015.

The continued success at Audi, considered by most analysts and investors to be the crown jewel within Volkswagen, helped previous Audi boss Martin Winterkorn replace his predecessor Bernd Pischetsrieder at the helm of the group at the start of this year.

REUTERS DKS PM0441