Chinese car sales rebound, Audi bests BMW in April

Cars sales in China increased 12.5% in April from a year earlier to 1.28 million vehicles, an uptick compared with the market’s sluggish growth in the first quarter, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. For the first four months of the year, car sales reached 5.05 million vehicles, up 1.9% from one year earlier. Volkswagen’s (VOW.XE) premium brand Audi sold more cars globally than BMW (BMW.XE) in April for the first time in the last year, due to strong demand from China, US and Russia. Audi’s global sales surged 14% to 125,200 vehicles in April, while BMW sales rose 7.4% to 121,476 vehicles, about half of Audi’s growth, Reuters reported. Demand for luxury cars in China remains high, in contrast to softening demand in the mass-market segment.