VW's China sales increased 6.7 percent in September year-on-year to 160,000 units, roughly in line with industry sales, which have been tailing off since the spring.

In the first nine months of 2011, VW brand sales rose 11 percent to nearly 1.3 million units.

Volkswagen Group's main brands in China are VW, Audi and Skoda. In September, Audi AG sales jumped 33 percent year-on-year to 29,500 units, as the German luxury brand discounted some models to maintain market share.

China is Volkswagen Group's biggest market, and the German automaker is spending heavily on new plants to keep pace with expected growth.

In September, VW said its joint ventures in China will spend 123 billion yuan ($19 billion) through 2016. The investment includes expenditures for a batch of new models and two new assembly plants.

Ford China's passenger car sales rose moderately in September, but commercial truck sales declined slightly as industry sales in that segment remained soft.

Changan Ford Mazda Automobile sold 28,126 Ford-brand vehicles in September, up 6 percent year-on-year.

Changan Ford builds the Ford Mondeo, Focus, Fiesta and S-Max.

Ford also imports a few vehicles into China -- such as the Edge crossover -- but import data was not available.

Sales of the Ford Mondeo jumped 37 percent, fueled by strong demand for the Ecoboost version.

In an August interview, Ford Asia-Pacific President Joe Hinrichs said the automaker was working to ease spot shortages of the Ecoboost-powered Mondeo.

For the first nine months, Changan Ford Mazda sold 233,981 Ford units, up 7 percent.

Ford's commercial truck joint venture, Jiangling Motors Corp., sold 15,542 units in September. That's down 2.3 percent from the year-ago period. For the first nine months, Jiang's sales increased 12.3 percent year-on-year to 132,960 units.

Jiangling sells the Ford Transit van as well as Jiangling-brand trucks, pickups and SUVs.

In the first nine months, Ford's overall sales totaled 385,957 units, up 10 percent.