BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's Volkswagen (>> Volkswagen AG) increased sales at its core passenger-car brand by 3.3 percent in December to 535,200 autos, as volume growth in China offset shrinking demand in European markets.

Full-year deliveries of VW badge vehicles were up 3.4 percent at a record 5.93 million cars, the Wolfsburg-based group said on Friday.

"We will be facing new and difficult challenges in 2014, but we are very well prepared thanks to our young and sustainable product range," VW sales chief Christian Klingler said in a statement.

(Reporting by Andreas Cremer; Editing by Christoph Steitz)