Daimler AG's luxury car unit Mercedes-Benz said that sales of its passenger vehicles in the Chinese market were 15,272 units in September, 12.7 percent more than in the same month of last year, sources reported.

The growth in September was much higher than the 3.2 percent increase in August.

In the first nine months of this year, the company's auto sales surged 32.8 percent year on year to 135,500 units.

Daimler said that its global sales of Mercedes-Benz cars increased by 0.7 percent in September to 129,476 units. Sales of Mercedes brand cars rose 2 percent year on year to 120,982 units, while Smart brand sales declined 15.6 percent to 8,494 units last month.

In 2010, the company's vehicle sales in China surged 115 percent from a year ago to 147,670 units, according to an earlier report.