BERLIN - German auto giant Volkswagen said on Tuesday that its passenger car sales in the first four months of 2013 rose 5.3 percent, thanks to strong demands from China and North America.

The Wolfsburg-based automaker sold 1.91 million passenger vehicles from January to April globally, compared with the sales of 1.81 million cars during the same period last year.

The increase was mainly driven by demands from China and North America, according to Volkswagen.

During the same period, delivery in China grew year-on-year by 20 percent to 783,900 vehicles. In the North America region, Volkswagen Passenger Cars deliveries in the period to April grew by 4.4 percent to 196,200 units.

"Developments on world markets remained mixed and the situation in Europe in particular is very challenging. Volkswagen passenger cars are not immune to this trend," said Christian Klingler, Board Member for Sales and Marketing for the Volkswagen Group.

"Overall, though, the brand recorded a modest increase in worldwide deliveries as a result of its convincing model range. The signals from China, where Volkswagen has been successfully selling vehicles for the last 30 years, continue positive," Klingler said.

China has become the largest market for Volkswagen. Among all its passenger cars handed over in the Asia Pacific region in the period to April, 91.7 percent were sold in China.

However, during the first four months, sales in the European market dropped 7.5 percent year-on-year to 545,300 vehicles. There was also a downward trend on the home market of Germany, where customers took possession of 180,500 new vehicles, which was 10.9 percent less than in the previous year.

In the South America region, Volkswagen's deliveries from January to April decreased by 4.5 percent to 235,200 units, of which 175,600 were handed over in Brazil, that was 2.9 percent less than in 2012.