Luxury cars are increasingly irresistible for many Vietnamese, say industry players who report rising sales even as daily life becomes harder for the majority struggling to cope with one of the world’s highest rates of inflation.

Audi’s A6, launched at the Vietnam Auto Expo last month, costs almost $142,000 — which would take the average Vietnamese worker 182 years to earn.

Yet Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, Audi and other high-end brands are increasingly common on the narrow streets of Hanoi, where they vie for space with the motorcycles which are standard transport for most people.

Luxury cars are in demand more than ever, according to statistics released this week by some of Germany’s top automakers.

Mercedes-Benz, one of the world’s best known luxury auto brands, has sold more vehicles around the world in the first half of 2011 than in any previous year, with 610,531 drivers splashing out on a car between January and June.

It says that by the end of this year, it has its sights on selling 1.3 million Mercedes-Benz passenger cars, setting an all-time sales record.

There was a time when a toddler dressed head-to-toe in designer labels would have raised eyebrows, but walk around the streets of Europe’s capitals nowadays and you’ll see it’s become almost de rigeur.

Perhaps then, as the popularity of dressing and feeding every member of the modern luxury-loving family in the same way grows, it’s no surprise that hotels are becoming ever more creative when it comes to conceiving classy new services which can keep both parents and their pint-sized progeny amused.

The Ritz-Carlton, Berlin was the first in the German capital to introduce a “Very Important Kids” program aimed at satisfying the needs of its younger clientele, and relaunched it earlier this year with an even wider selection of activities — and the promise that it’s the “ultimate luxury hotel experience for children.”

Mercedes-Benz has unveiled its latest SUV, the M-Class ML 350, a fuel-efficient model designed to help it overtake rival BMW.

The new Mercedes-Benz M-Class promises to cut fuel consumption by 25 percent compared to the previous model, and is described as a “quantum leap”.

It could enable Mercedes to gain a lead on BMW‘s rival, the X5 SUV, with analysts predicting that there could be a sales difference of as little as 1,000 by 2013.

We’ve seen Maserati, Audi, McLaren, Range Rover, Lexus, and even Shelby come out with their own bicycles in the past few months.

And now German automaker Mercedes is getting ready to jump on the bandwagon. In its Bike Selection 2011, Mercedes-Benz combines uniquely attractive and innovative frames with dedicated, up-to-date components.

For those racing on the road, Benz has a carbon fiber bike weighing 6.8 kgs. And for those doing terrain biking, Mercedes-Benz has a mountain bike that is powered with Fox Racing F32 RL suspension fork with a DT suspension strut on the rear.

Eurocopter’s EC145 Mercedes-Benz Style helicopter made its world debut at the 2011 European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva.

Conceived in a styling project led by the Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Studio in Como, Italy, the interior of the EC145 Mercedes-Benz Style is inspired by the automaker’s range of high-end vehicles.

It features deluxe materials, elegant woods and ambient cabin lighting, along with multi-function boxes.