Deliveries of Volkswagen Group's various brands rose 7 percent year on year in China last month to 320,000 units -- an indication that the German automaker's strong growth early this year has tailed off.

Last month, VW Group found itself in a virtual sales tie with rival General Motors, whose joint ventures sold 319,936 units.

In September, Volkswagen-brand sales edged up 4 percent, while Audi sales rose 13 percent on strong demand for crossovers. Porsche sales soared 54 percent, and Skoda deliveries increased 16 percent.

For the first nine months, Volkswagen group sales rose 15 percent to 2.7 million units -- just ahead of General Motors, which sold 2.6 million units.

The two rivals are making major investments in China in their bids to dominate the market. This summer, VW announced it would spend 2 billion euros (15.8 billion yuan) to build two assembly plants in the east China port city of Qingdao and the northeast China port city of Tianjin.

Meanwhile, General Motors plans to spend $14.5 billion to build five new plants in China.