SALES for German automaker BMW AG’s China venture are expected to rise at least 20 percent year on year in 2017, the premium automaker’s local joint venture partner said Friday.

    The full-year estimate is based on a 44 percent year-on-year rise in the first two months of 2017, chairman Wu Xiaoan of Brilliance China Automotive Holdings, BMW’s 50-50 joint venture partner, told reporters in Hong Kong. Global automakers must form local JVs in order to manufacture cars in China.

    BMW, whose China sales grew 11.3 percent last year, is the country’s second-largest premium brand after Volkswagen AG’s Audi AG and is racing to stay ahead of third-place Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz, which recorded 26.6 percent growth in 2016 China sales.

    (SD-Agencies)