VW June China sales up 22.7 pct

Shanghai, July 13 (Gasgoo.com) Top European carmaker Volkswagen AG said on Monday that its vehicle sales in China including Hong Kong in the first half of this year jumped 22.7 percent from a year earlier, reports Reuters.

Volkswagen, which vies with General Motors Corp and other global auto giants in Chinese market, sold 652,222 vehicles in China in the six-month period, of which 538,969 units were Volkswagen-branded vehicles, the report said, citing a company statement.

"The increase of our deliveries to customers has been in line with the market growth in China, which benefited from the effectiveness and the success of the Chinese government's incentive automotive policy." Volkswagen China President Winfried Vahland said in the statement.

China's first-half vehicle sales rose 18 percent to 6.1 million after the government cut some retail taxes and handed out vehicle subsidies in rural areas to spur demand. Sales of passenger vehicles climbed 26 percent to 4.53 million.