Chinese demand presses accelerator for German car giants’ sales

By PETER RANSCOMBE
Published on 12/06/2012 00:00

GERMAN car makers Audi and BMW both posted record sales figures for the month of May, driven by accelerating demand from China.

Audi, the luxury car division of Volkswagen, sold 128,900 cars last month, a rise of 13.7 per cent. Sales chief Peter Schwarzenbauer said: “The current order intake proves that for the first half of the year, we will exceed our expectations in all regions.”

Sales at BMW motored forward by 6.4 per cent to 156,957 vehicles, with Chinese sales rising by almost a third. China is the German marque’s biggest market.

Brand sales chief Ian Robertson said: “New products such as the BMW 6 Series Gran Coupé, which we launched on 1 June, as well as the new BMW 7 Series, will continue to drive momentum. We are well on our way to achieving a new all-time high for sales in the year 2012.”

BMW’s Mini brand also posted a 5.5 per cent rise in sales, shipping 27,527 cars in May.