(Adds analyst comment, Mercedes comparison and background.)
BERLIN, May 8 (Reuters) - Audi posted another double-digit sales gain in April even as its product cycle has peaked, keeping German rival Mercedes-Benz with refreshed models at bay.
Deliveries at the Volkswagen-owned brand rose 11.6 percent to 149,050 autos, the fourth-strongest rate of increase in the past 15 months, extending the year-to-date tally to 561,900, the world's No. 2 luxury carmaker said on Thursday.
That compares with a 14.2 percent rise to 133,077 cars in April at Mercedes which is boasting a spate of redesigned models to recoup ground after dropping to third place in luxury sales rankings behind Audi in 2011.
"Such strong growth rates are positively surprising," said Frankfurt-based Commerzbank analyst Sascha Gommel. "Audi's model range is relatively old compared with Mercedes and BMW."
Besides the newly-revamped A3 compact line, April volume was driven by the Q3 compact SUV and the A4 and A6 station wagons, all of which have been selling in core European markets for more than 2.5 years.
"We continue to beat our own targets with the strong result in April that builds on first-quarter double-digit growth," Audi sales chief Luca de Meo said.
Having doubled model lines and deliveries over the past decade to narrow the sales gap on luxury car market leader BMW, Audi is facing a barren spell on products just as core European markets are recovering.
Planned overhauls of the top-selling A4 saloon and the Q7 SUV will be pushed into 2015 as the cars need to be reworked, company sources told Reuters. Audi mentioned the station wagon version of the overdue A4 as one model driving April volume.
Ingolstadt-based Audi aims to increase deliveries beyond last year's record 1.58 million autos in 2014, as it eyes a target of at least 2 million cars in 2020.
Rival BMW is expected to publish global sales data for April next week.
(Reporting by Andreas Cremer; editing by Thomas Atkins and William Hardy)