BMW said it sold about 10 percent more cars in the first quarter of 2012 than a year earlier, boosted by demand from the United States and China.

In China, sales grew at a "double-digit" rate to a record level of more than 75,000 cars, the company said on Wednesday.

In the United States, sales were up by about 17 percent at 75,729 vehicles in the three months through March.