Volkswagen, Europe's biggest carmaker, said Friday it already sold more cars in the 11 months to November than the record number seen in the whole of 2011.

VW said in a statement that total vehicle sales rose by 11.7 percent to 794,500 in November, bringing the total for the year to date up by 10.4 percent to 8.29 million units.

A Volkswagen employee picks up one of a set of logos to be fitted on VW Tiguan and Touran models. Europe's biggest carmaker says it has already sold more cars in the 11 months to November than the record number seen in the whole of 2011.

In 2011, the carmaker sold a total 8.27 million vehicles worldwide.

"We have already delivered more vehicles after 11 months than during the whole of last year. That is an outstanding achievement, particularly in view of the continuing difficult situation on some European markets," said VW's sales chief Christian Klingler.

But he warned: "Despite this year’s new delivery record we are already preparing for a very challenging year in 2013."