German auto giant BMW said Wednesday it has acquired Chinese firm Herald Leasing as part of its bid to broaden the business in its biggest market to include car leasing.

"With this move, the company is responding to the increasing importance of the emerging leasing business in the world's largest vehicle market and laying the foundation for further growth," said BMW in a statement.

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

"We firmly believe in the medium- and long-term potential of the Chinese auto market and are preparing for the next phase of growth," said Erich Ebner von Eschenbach, head of BMW Group Financial Services.

"New business areas, such as leasing and fleet management, will be an increasingly important part of this," added von Eschenbach.

The acquisition will allow BMW to add leasing options to its local financing services.

Herald Leasing has offices in 58 Chinese cities, employs around 250 people and reported revenues of 208 million yuan (30 million euros, $33 million) for 2014.

The German auto giant delivered around 343,000 BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce cars to customers in China in the first nine months of 2015, up 2.3 percent from the same period last year.

China October auto sales jump on tax cut: industry group
Shanghai (AFP) Nov 11, 2015 - Auto sales in China surged nearly 12 percent in October from a year ago, after the government cut a purchase tax on some vehicles to revive the world's biggest car market, a domestic industry group said Wednesday.

Auto sales jumped 11.79 percent to 2.22 million units last month, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said in a statement, as sales growth extended a rebound from September.

China cut purchase taxes by half on passenger cars with small engines, effective from October 1.

"The policy's implementation has strongly boosted sales of passenger cars with engines of 1.6 litres and less," the industry group said.

China's auto sales had previously fallen for five months through August as the world's second-biggest economy sputtered.

The country's economic growth hit a 24-year low of 7.3 percent in 2014 and has slowed further this year, slipping to 7.0 percent in each of the first two quarters.

In the July-September period, China logged its worst economic performance since the global financial crisis, with gross domestic product rising just 6.9 percent.

For the first ten months on this year, China's auto sales gained 1.51 percent year-on-year to 19.28 million vehicles, CAAM said.

In comparison, China's overall auto sales reached 23.49 million vehicles last year, jumping 6.9 percent from 2013.

Sales for major foreign players surged last month.

US auto giant General Motors sold 327,037 vehicles in China, up 15 percent year-on-year, it said last week.

Another US automaker, Ford, sold 95,185 vehicles in October, an increase of 7 percent from the same month last year, the company said.