Luxury car sales in China continued to soar in April

BMW AG and Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz brand doubled car sales in China on the year in April, the world's two best-selling luxury car makers said Wednesday.

A spokesman for BMW said the company sold 12,440 cars in China last month, compared with 5,789 in April 2009. In the first four months of the year, BMW's group sales totaled 46,619 cars in China, up from 22,369 a year earlier.

The core BMW brand accounted for 11,700 car sales in China last month after 5,576 in the prior-year period, and for 44,026 cars in the first four months, compared with 21,426 cars a year earlier. Demand was particularly strong for the flagship 7-series sedan, as well as the X5 and X6 sports-utility-vehicles, the spokesman said.

A spokeswoman for Mercedes-Benz said the brand's sales doubled on year in China to 11,300 cars in April and to 35,400 vehicles in the first four months of the year.

German rival Audi AG, which ranks third in terms of global luxury car sales but is the market leader in China due to an early market entry by parent Volkswagen AG, earlier Wednesday said sales in China and Hong Kong rose 61% on the year to 19,606 vehicles in April. Sales in the first four months came in at 71,055 cars, up 73% on year.

China has been one of the few bright spots for auto makers during last year's gloom, and industry executives expect the booming market to continue to fuel the industry's recovery in coming months and years.

According to previous statements, Audi targets 200,000 car sales in China in full-year 2010, compared with 120,000 at BMW and "more than 100,000" at Mercedes-Benz.

Daimler Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche said last month during the Auto China exhibition in Beijing that Mercedes-Benz's sales in China will likely surpass those of BMW either this year or next.