Ingolstadt, Germany - China's booming car market helped to power sales for Germany's Audi AG with the luxury carmaker reporting Tuesday an 11.5 per cent jump in deliveries during the first five months of the year.

A division of Europe's biggest auto maker Volkswagen AG, Audi said sales in May rose by 9.2 per cent last month helped along by an update of its model range.

Audi sold 79,200 vehicles last month and 383,600 vehicles during the first five months of the year, the Ingolstadt-based company said.

While Audi chief Ralph Weyler said the carmaker recorded improved sales in virtually all markets that it operates in, sales in China raced ahead by 65 per cent last month to 5,932 and almost doubled to 32,568 during the first five months of the year.

Sales in US last month rose by 10 per cent, bringing the increase over the last five months to 6.3 per cent.

In Europe, Audi said sales rose by 7.5 per cent to 181,900 from January to May with the carmaker's home market, Germany posting a 4.4 per cent increase to 105,550 vehicles.