HONG KONG, June 30 (Reuters) - Germany's BMW the world's largest premium car maker, said on Friday that its sales in mainland China in the first half of 2006 had risen nearly 60 percent from a year before.
Japan is still the biggest market in Asia for BMW but China is rapidly catching up, BMW chairman Helmut Panke told reporters.
Panke did not give a sales figure but said BMW's sales in mainland China would have grown by almost 60 percent in the first half.