Visitors check out Audi R8 at the 42nd Tokyo Motor show in Tokyo, Japan, Nov. 30, 2011. (Xinhua/Ji Chunpeng)

China's automotive market may grow 8 to 9 percent next year, with its premium segment expanding 20 percent or even 30 percent, Audi Chief Executive Rupert Stadler predicted Sunday.

Global carmakers have a better chance of growing in the premium segment because emerging markets like China will produce a crop of millionaires in dollar terms, said Stadler, who has set a goal of making Audi the world's top premium carmaker by 2015.

Stadler also expects China's automotive industry to face a tougher year in 2012.

"But this should not be a reason to fall into pessimism," he said, adding that the automotive industry will continue to grow over the next 10 years thanks to the enormous appetite for mobility among people in developing economies.

The number of luxury cars sold in China jumped 39 percent to 939,000 by November this year, beating Germany, which came in at 914,000 luxury vehicles sold, according to Jenny Gu, a Shanghai-based analyst with US research firm LMC.

"The growing affluence of Chinese consumers has fueled demand for luxury goods," Gu said. "Luxury car demand is still on the rise in China with low penetration rates."

The leading three luxury carmakers, Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW), Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz and Volkswgan AG's Audi, are counting on China to fuel expansion next year as economists at London-based Barclays Plc estimate Europe may be in recession through the first half of 2012, the companies said.

Audi's 11-month sales in China have advanced 35 percent to 283,600 vehicles. BMW through November has climbed 40 percent to 200,699 vehicles, while Mercedes has gained 31 percent to 170,112 vehicles.

To cope with demand growth in China, the three companies plan to limit holiday breaks for the second year in a row. BMW and Daimler's Mercedes-Benz will shut most plants for just one week between Christmas and New Year's Day, while Audi will close European plants for two weeks, the carmakers said earlier this month.

The automakers lengthened year-end breaks for many workers to as long as three weeks in 2009 because of lower sales.