China’s passenger-vehicle sales rose 13 percent in April on rising demand for new models in the world’s biggest vehicle market.

Wholesale deliveries of cars, multipurpose and sport-utility vehicles climbed to 1.44 million units in April, according to the state-backed China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. Five analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News had a median estimate of 1.404 million units.

Automakers such as General Motors Co. (GM) and Volkswagen AG (VOW) are adding new models in China on expectation that a rising urban population, which has grown an average of about 4 percent annually in the past two decades, will spur demand for cars. Passenger-vehicle demand has surged by an average of 25 percent since 2006, according to Kevin Tynan, an auto analyst for Bloomberg Industries.

"The strong momentum in small sedan and SUV segments, which have been driving auto sales year-to-date, will continue,” Hou Yankun and Ming Xu, Hong Kong-based analysts at UBS AG, wrote in a note to clients. “Retail pricing remains largely stable for the mass market in April, despite being in the slack season of passenger vehicle consumption.”

Total sales of vehicles, including buses and trucks, gained 13 percent to 1.84 million units last month, the association said.

For the first four months of the year, auto sales gained 16 percent to 5.86 million units, CAAM said.

Commercial vehicle sales rose 15 percent to 400,300 units in April.

Source: globalrubbermarkets.com