AUTOS

BMW sees sales rise in U.S. and Asia, barely budge in Europe

The Associated Press Published Wednesday, October 9, 2013 9:34AM EDT

During May, luxury sales as a group were up by 26.4 per cent and are now up by 14.9 per cent year-to-date. (AP / Matthias Schrader)

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FRANKFURT, Germany -- German luxury automaker BMW says sales rose 6.7 per cent in September thanks to stronger demand in the United States and Asia.

BMW said Wednesday that sales including its Mini and Rolls-Royce brands rose 18 per cent in Asia, supported by a 20.8 jump in China from the same month a year ago. U.S. sales rose 8.3 per cent.

Sales in Europe's tough car market barely rose, by 0.7 per cent. The European car market has been hard hit by slow growth and high unemployment in the 17-country euro currency union.

The company sold 189,675 vehicles worldwide.

Sales of Rolls-Royce superluxury models rose 7.1 per cent to 333 for the month.