BMW's car sales in China surged in September, easing investors’ concerns that the world’s biggest automotive market is slowing, and sending the manufacturer’s shares to a two-week high in Europe.
“This strength has legs to it,” said David Arnold, an auto-industry specialist with Credit Suisse in London. “China’s still a growth market, but the market’s normalizing, which is what we need.”
Volkswagen’s Audi unit and Mercedes-Benz, which rank behind BMW in global luxury-car sales, also posted stronger demand in September in China, even as the country’s economy shows signs of cooling. China’s services industry expanded at the slowest rate in more than a year in September, and manufacturing has contracted for 11 consecutive months.
BMW shares rose as much as 3.8 percent to $77.56 in Frankfurt, the highest intraday price since Sept. 20. Daimler gained as much as 1.9 percent to $50, and VW increased 2.3 percent to $186.40.
Audi said today that September sales in China advanced 20 percent to 35,512 vehicles. Deliveries by Stuttgart, Germany- based Mercedes totaled 16,806 cars and SUVs in China, a gain of 10 percent.––Paul Duchene
