China has advanced to become the most important market for Germany's robust premium carmaking sector, car experts report.
BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche sold a total of 959,000 cars in China last year, more units than in any other car market around the world and ahead of Germany itself and the United States.
The figures are contained in a report supplied to dpa by car expert Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer of Duisburg-Essen University.
The four premium makers sold 882,000 units in the domestic German market in 2012, a slight drop over the previous year. In the United States sales stood at 837,000 units.
Sales in China went up last year by 26% compared to an increase of 15% in the US. Sales in Germany were stagnant.
Car experts expect China to grow in importance over the next few years. Back in 2005 German premium makers sold a mere 104,000 cars in China and since then sales have ballooned by an average of 37% annually.