BMW says H1 Chinese sales surge nearly 60 pct

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.

In a joint venture with Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd., BMW produces BMW 3 Series and 5 Series in the northern city Shenyang.

Adding in Chinese markets outside the mainland, sales of BMW grew by more than 37 percent last year. ''This year we are continuing at about same growth rate 36 percent,'' Panke said.

Total sales of BMW brand cars in mainland China last year, including imports, hit 23,595.

Brilliance said earlier this year that the joint venture in China's northern Shenyang city sold 17,500 BMWs last year.

REUTERS SBA GC1538