VW Group sales rise in May, top GM

Volkswagen AG says group deliveries in China rose 18 percent year-on-year in May to 260,000 units, outselling rival General Motors for honors as China's top-selling international automaker.

The German automaker sells VW, Audi, Skoda, Porsche, Bentley and Seat vehicles in China. Those brands collectively gained share in a tepid market, industry sales rose 9 percent in May, down from gains of 13 percent in March and April.

They also outsold General Motors, whose Chinese joint ventures sold 252,942 units.

In May, VW-brand sales rose 19 percent, while Audi deliveries increased 16 percent. Porsche sales edged up 6 percent, while Skoda volume slipped 0.3 percent. Results for Seat were not available.

In the first five months of 2013, VW group sales totaled 1.3 million vehicles, up 18 percent.

China has become Volkswagen's larges market, in terms of unit sales, and the German automaker is spending heavily to expand.

Last month, VW said it would double to 600,000 units the annual capacity of the plant it is building with China FAW Group Corp. in the south China city of Foshan.

The plant is to start production in August and initially will produce up to 300,000 vehicles a year. The plant will double its production capacity by 2015.