China sees hot sales of luxury cars

Luxury car makers reported strong sales growth on China's mainland for the first half of this year despite the government's phasing out of incentives.

Sales of Mercedes-Benz, smart, AMG and Maybach jumped 59 percent year over year to hit a record 95,030 units during the first six months of this year, the car makers announced yesterday.

Meanwhile, BMW said first half sales of BMW and Mini models in China rose 61 percent to 121,614 vehicles, while Audi moved 141,000 cars but saw slower sales growth of 28 percent due to limits on production.

Premium car makers in China continued to see high demand even though incentives were dropped and new car registrations in Beijing were limited.

Car sales climbed 5.3 percent during the first half of the year, according to the China Passenger Car Association, compared to a 20.7 percent gain for the same period in 2010.

"Vehicle upgrades in China's coastal area like Jiangsu Province and Guangdong Province spurred huge demand for premier cars," said John Zeng, director of Asian Forecasting at J.D. Power & Associates in Shanghai.