U.S. sales of Volkswagen vehicles soared 35 percent last month, giving the brand a 22 percent gain for the first half of the year and prompting predictions of the highest annual total in nearly a decade.

Volkswagen of America forecasts 2011 sales will top 300,000 units -- a level the brand last reached in 2003. VW sold 256,830 vehicles last year, reported Automotive News.

"We've been able achieve a volume in the first half of this year in what took us effectively seven months last year," Jonathan Browning, CEO of VW of America, said in a statement today. "We expect the momentum to continue into the second-half of the year."

Browning said June was VW's best month in nine years, despite the run-out of the Passat sedan and the Beetle compact car. June sales were led by the redesigned Jetta, which was up 88 percent in June and 66 percent for the first six months.

Browning estimated that shortages at Japanese competitors because of the March 11 Japan earthquake will give VW about 10,000 additional Jetta sales in 2011.

VW is preparing to launch the Passat sedan redesigned for the United States and built at its new factory in Chattanooga, Tenn., and a redesigned larger Beetle. Both go on sale this fall.

U.S. sales of the German automaker's Audi luxury brand, meanwhile, rose 17 percent last month and are up 15 percent for the year.

Volkswagen-brand sales reached 28,444 last month, boosting the mid-year total to 154,125. In 2003, a total of 302,686 VWs were sold in the United States.